Couch's Kingbird

Tyrannus couchiiOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Codes: Common Name: COKI Scientific Name: TYRCOU ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178291

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird: Large flycatcher, olive-green upperparts, gray head, dark eye patch, white throat, bright yellow underparts. Wings and slightly forked tail are dark. Black legs and feet. Difficult to distinguish from Tropical Kingbird. Slow fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

● Song: "s'wee-s'wee-s'wee-s'wee-I-chu", "breeeear", "kip".

● Foraging & Feeding: Couch's Kingbird: Eats flying and crawling insects, berries, and fruits; perches on tall trees to hawk insects.

● Breeding & nesting: Couch's Kingbird: Three to five pink to buff eggs with brown and lavender blotches are laid in a nest made of leaves, twigs, moss, weeds, and bark strips, lined with finer materials, and built 8 to 25 feet above the ground on a tree limb. Incubation ranges from 14 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Couch's Kingbird: Tropical Kingbird is identical in appearance but has distinctive twittering call. Western and Cassin's kingbirds have smaller, thinner bills, paler gray ear patches, and different voices.

Flight Pattern

Slow fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

Couch's Kingbird Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Couch's Kingbird: Resident from southern Texas south to Central America; prefers woodland borders and brushy streamside thickets.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationNorthern birds migrate

^Weight1.6 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Flight Pattern