Great Kiskadee
From WikiBird
Contents |
Size
Length: 22cm (??in), Wingspan: ??cm (??in), Weight: 63g
Field Marks
Large black head with a strong white eyestripe and a concealed yellow crown stripe. Bright yellow underparts and white throat. The upperparts are brown, and the wings and tail are brown with usually strong rufous fringes. The black bill is short and thick.
Similar species
The Social Flycatcher is smaller with a relatively smaller bill and lack the rust on the primaries. The Boat-billed Flycatcher has a massive black bill, an olive-brown back and very little rufous in the tail and wings.
Sounds
The call, which gives the bird its English name is an exuberant KISS-ka-DEE.
Feeding & Behavior
Noisy and conspicuous bird. It is aggressive, and will drive away larger birds entering its territory. It is almost omnivorous, and hunts like a shrike or flycatcher, waiting on a open perch high in a tree to sally out to catch insects in flight, or descending on rodents, or other small prey. It will also take some fruit.
Habitat & Nesting
Breeds in open woodland with some tall trees, including cultivation and around human habitation, The nest, built, by both sexes in a tree or telephone pole, is an ball of sticks with a side entrance, and the typical clutch is two or three cream eggs lightly blotched with reddish brown. They are incubated by the female.
Range
Breeds from southern Texas and Mexico south to central Argentina, and on Trinidad and Bermuda. It was introduced to Tobago in about 1970. Range in United States limited to southern Texas-stray elsewhere.
Resources
