Tropical Kingbird: how to recognise it
A bird of North America and South America. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Steven Mlodinow · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Tyrannus melancholicus
- Family
- Tyrant Flycatchers
- Size
- About 22 cm
- Habitat
- Open country, farmland, towns and forest edge
- Found in
- North America and South America
The key marks
Yellow-bellied flycatcher with a plain grey head and a dark eye mask, an olive-green back, a pale throat and a slightly notched brownish tail. Great Kiskadee has a bold black-and-white striped head and rufous in the wings.
Voice
A high, twittering trill, like 'tree-ee-ee-ee'.
Good to know
It perches on wires and bare branches, flying out to snap up insects, and breeds from southern Arizona to northern Argentina.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Great Kiskadee. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in open country, farmland, towns and forest edge. It is especially common in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.