Specialty birds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, TX - Part 2 - Tropical Kingbird and Great Kiskadee

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INTRODUCTION

This is a continuation of the visual checklist of my efforts to capture images of birds that in the United States are seen primarily in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The series is merely a visual checklist. The descriptions of the birds are terse.

The Tropical Kingbird and Great Kiskadee are featured in this post.

The combination of the Olympus OM-1 camera and the 150-400 mm f/4.5 TC lens was used to capture all the images displayed in this series.

Tropical Kingbird, Santa Ana NWR
Focal length: 500 mm
1/2000 sec at f/6.3, ISO 2500
Handheld

The tropical kingbird is a large yellow-bellied flycatcher. It has a gray head, whitish throat and dark gray-brown wings and tail.

Tropical Kingbird, Santa Ana NWR
Focal length: 500 mm
1/1250 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400
Handheld

Tropical Kingbird, Santa Ana NWR
Focal length: 500 mm
1/800 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400
Handheld

Tropical Kingbird, Santa Ana NWR
Focal length: 500 mm
1/1250 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400
Handheld

In the U.S., the tropical kingbird breeds in southern Arizona and is a resident in some parts of the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Great Kiskadee, NABA International Butterfly Park
Focal Length: 500 mm
1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 3200
Handheld

The black-and-white head and bright yellow belly are conspicuous on the Great Kiskadee. The bright rufous wings and tail are apparent in the following flight shots.

Great Kiskadee, Estero Llano Grande State Park
Focal Length: 473 mm
1/3200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 8000
Handheld

Great Kiskadee, Estero Llano Grande State Park
Focal Length: 473 mm
1/3200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 8000
Handheld

Great Kiskadee, Estero Llano Grande State Park
Focal Length: 473 mm
1/3200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 8000
Handheld

Great Kiskadee, Estero Llano Grande State Park
Focal Length: 473 mm
1/2000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 2500
Handheld

The range of the Great Kiskadee covers most of South and Central America except for Chile, parts of Mexico and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.