I thought it was a Western Kingbird, too. Having seen both the Tropical
and the Couch's Kingbirds, side-by-side!, recently in Big Bend National
Park in Cottonwood Campgrand near the Rio Grande, our baseball game bird
(seemed to have white edging down the tail) looked like a Western
Kingbird with the shorter,thinner bill. The upper back was bit richer
greenish-olive, more like the Couch's or the Tropical, but the small bill
and hints of white tail edgings plus the location suggested a Western. I
don't recall if we had a view of the end of this kingbird's tail; both
Couch's and Tropical Kingbird tails are much more notched than the Western's.

PRAISE (I don't have stock or financial connection to Wings, Inc., birding
tours): I recently returned from Jon Dunn's Wings tour to SW TX Edwards
Plateau/BigBend National Park/Davis Mts. It was just fabulous; I had
about 18 new birds. There was some strenuous hiking to find the Colima
Warbler, so, need to be in pretty good shape and determined, indeed! This
is a well-priced, well-worth-it birding tour. I strongly recommend it.

Cheers, me2
****************************************
Maureen Ellis, PhD, Research Scientist
Woods Lab, Toxicology Group at Roos 1, Box 354695
Lab/Office phone: 206-685-1938 Email: mj2ephd at u.washington.edu
DEOHS, SPHCM, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
****************************************
"The highway of life is full of flat squirrels that
couldn't make up their minds." ____unknown

"To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities
as you do at conclusions." ____Ben Franklin

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ____Ghandi

On Fri, 25 May 2007, Mike Wile wrote:

> Actually, I agree. I believe this was a western. I watched the game and
> saw white outers on the tail.
>
> However, good catch Brien. It is not often we are able to test our birding
> skills watching professional sports
>
> (How about that for a life list category? After seeing that game, mine is
> now about 5 :) )
>
> Mike Wile
> mikewile at comcast.net
> Redmond. WA
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Downes" <downess at charter.net>
> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 8:45 PM
> Subject: [Tweeters] re:tropical kingbird on Mariners game
>
>
>> I'll confess I didn't see the bird, however why not a Western Kingbird,
>> while KC is slightly out of their range they do occur in most of Kansas and
>> with speaking out of generalities since I didn't see the bird fly by I
>> wonder how well one could rule out Western vs. Tropical/Couch's based on a
>> Television view. Tropical/Couch's is very difficult call and many birds
>> that
>> don't call remain as unidentified. Just my two cents, but suspect that
>> Western Kingbird should be considered as the most likely possibility.
>>
>> Scott Downes
>> downess at charter.net
>> Yakima WA
>>
>> Subject: tropical kingbird on Mariners game
>> From: "Brien Meilleur" <brienbirder AT hotmail.com>
>> Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 20:49:40 -0600
>>
>> Dear All,
>> I was just watching the Mariners game against the Kansas City Royals in KC
>> and a bird flew by the KC pitcher disturbing him, and then flying to a
>> nearby wire. The commentators said they thought it was a "finch" but it was
>> clearly either a tropical or couch's kingbird, I would say probably a
>> tropical kingbird by the bill shape. I checked my Birds of Missouri by
>> Robbins and Easterla and it doesn't show any records for Missouri...neither
>> do Sibley or the National Geo Guide. I'll check with some of my Missouri
>> friends--but wouldn't it be a kick if Missouri got a state record for a
>> bird
>> seen on a television broadcast?
>> Brien Meilleur
>> Lake Forest Park
>> brienbirder AT hotmail.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
>
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