Subject: Re: Kingbirds (was electric birds)
Date: Jun 12 17:43:33 1995
From: Eugene Hunn - hunn at u.washington.edu


Michael,

It seems to me there's plenty of Western Kingbirds in open shrub-steppe
far from any conifers. No?

Gene Hunn.

PS: Found another pair of Western Bluebirds on a Weyerhauser clearcut in
King Co. yesterday, in the Red Creek swamp east of Enumclaw. Also a
Turkey Vulture airing its pits on a cliff ledge in front of what looked
like a nice shallow cave or overhang. I didn't feel up to climbing
higher to have a closer look.

On Sat, 10 Jun 1995, M. Smith wrote:

> On Wed, 7 Jun 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:
> > We all know that Western Kingbirds like to nest on utility poles east of
> > the Cascades. When I was in Texas I was told that the species was
> > extending its range eastward on the upper Texas coast, primarily nesting at
> > power plants! This is a bird that clearly likes a buzz.
>
> Two notes:
>
> A pair of WEKI at the Columbia Basin Fish Hatchery have regularly nested
> between a small transformer and the pole it's mounted on. I think it's
> because they don't have an extension cord for the microwave oven, so this
> is an easy arrangement.
>
> As for the Texas situation, WEKI are also moving northeast following road
> corridors. So I think it's not only a matter of having a structure to
> nest on as it is an open grassland avenue to expand into. Actually, the
> habitat preferences for EAKI and WEKI were the topic of a bit of debate
> between myself and Kelly Cassidy on our recent trip (report to follow, but
> not in this post). I think it's neat how in many places in E. Washington
> you can drive along and see both species within a quarter-mile of each
> other. Seems to me that Easterns are more commonly found near riparian
> habitat and Westerns in drier areas (*I`m not saying that you'd never find
> it in reverse, just this seems to be the majority*). Seems to me Easterns
> evolved to live in open areas where deciduous trees were dominant (the
> East), and Westerns evolved to live in open areas where conifers are
> dominant (the West). So where they come together, only nesting habitat is
> partitioned, leaving Easterns near spots with deciduous trees (rivers,
> lakes, golf courses, etc.) and Westerns at drier spots supporting
> conifers. Seems like feeding habitat doesn't matter, and you can find
> both kingbirds around any open area, often together.
>
> Does anyone know of papers supporting or contradicting this (hopefully the
> former)?
>
> -------------
> Michael R. Smith
> Univ. of Washington, Seattle
> whimbrel at u.washington.edu
> http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html
>
>