Tyrannus tyrannus
Order Passeriformes
Family Tyrannidae
Subfamily Tyranninae
Adult.— Top of head blackish, with a concealed crest of orange-red; back gray; wings brown; tail black, tipped with white; under parts white, washed with grayish across the breast.
Immature.— Tip of tail and breast tinged with pale brownish-buff.
Nest, rather bulky, either in trees from ten to thirty feet up, or in bushes near water.
Eggs, white, spotted with reddish-brown.
The Kingbird is a common summer resident throughout New York and New England, except in heavily forested regions. It arrives early in May, and is rarely seen after the first of September. It occurs wherever there are trees surrounded by open country, either in orchards or open farming land, or along streams. From the top of a tree, from a mullein stalk, or a telegraph wire, it watches the air round about, and makes sallies after passing insects. As it returns to its perch, it spreads its broad fan-shaped tail, showing the white tips of the black feathers.
The Kingbird is notorious for its habit of pursuing crows and hawks, darting at them from above with vicious jabs, often following them for a long distance, and returning at last with a shrill kip-per, kip-per. Its mating performance consists in flying upward, and then tumbling suddenly in the air, repeating the manæuvre again and again, all the time uttering its shrill cry. During the nesting season, the male may often be seen on a conspicuous perch near the nest, and when the young are being fed, one parent flies out to meet the one that is bringing food, and welcomes it noisily.
The flight of the Kingbird is steady and at about the same level. The orange-red crest-feathers are generally concealed by their blackish tips, but in the mating season, or under the influence of anger, they flare out. The black tail, broadly tipped with white, and the white under parts make the Kingbird an easy bird to identify, even from a car window.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)