General

Thick-billed Kingbird: Large flycatcher with gray-brown upperparts, darker head, and seldom seen yellow crown patch. Throat and breast are gray-washed white, and belly and undertail coverts are pale yellow. Bill is large and black. Tail is gray-brown and slightly forked, edged with cinnamon-brown. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has browner upperparts and brighter yellow underparts.

Range and Habitat

Thick-billed Kingbird: Native of Mexico; occurs in a few locations in Arizona and southern California. Breeds along permanent streams in lowlands and canyons, especially where large sycamores and cottonwoods grow.

Breeding and Nesting

Thick-billed Kingbird: Three to four white eggs with brown blotches are laid in a large, loose cup of twigs, grass, and plant down built on a horizontal tree branch 50 to 60 feet above the ground; nest has a ragged look, with eggs sometimes visible from below. Incubation ranges from 18 to 20 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Thick-billed Kingbird: Feeds on relatively large insects, including beetles, cicadas, and grasshoppers. Spots prey from perch and then hawks it in mid-air; often calls upon returning to a perch after successful foray.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms

Vocalization

Thick-billed Kingbird: Call is high, loud, whistled "puareet."

Similar Species

Thick-billed Kingbird: Tropical and other kingbirds have paler heads and smaller bills.