[mou] Eastern Kingbird behavior

[Thomas Maiello]

I was stunned over the last few days as I fished in Girl Lake north  
of Brainard, to watch what I thought was obviously Eastern Kingbirds  
feeding on insects from the surface of the lake in broad shallow  
waters along the lake shore.  At first I was surprised to see one on  
one side of the lake, hovering like I was used to seeing in Oklahoma  
in fields along barbed wire fences, except this bird was hovering  
over lily pads and catching insects on the wing.  When I changed  
locations on the lake, I spotted another sitting prominently on a  
stick protruding from the water and then totally shocked me by acting  
almost like a kingfisher, smacking the water repeatedly apparently  
feeding on aquatic insects or emerging larvae- and not just once but  
repeatedly - the entire time I fished.

Now I am open to this being what I saw but more likely perhaps I mis- 
IDed the birds?  I  got Eastern Kingbirds down pretty well I thought  
as I used to park along fence rows and watch Eastern or Western  
Kingbirds taking turns at passing grasshoppers along with the ever- 
present Scissor-tailed Flycathers.  I was always comparing their  
behavior as I studies them all during and after an Animal Behavior  
course I took one summer and them continued on my own just to enjoy  
their acrobatics and aerial displays and differing abilities to track  
the flying grasshoppers that get out of hand in Oklahoma summers.

Has anyone else seen this behavior or am I just making a bad ID and  
insisting that they are Eastern Kingbirds.  They had the dark and  
light upper and lower bill mandibles and the tell-tell white fringe  
on the end of their tails.  Coloration the same or perhaps a bit  
darker than what I am used to but the profiles and flying abilities  
were the same or very similar.

Willing to be wrong

Thomas Maiello
Angel Environmental Management, Inc.
Spring Lake Park, MN



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