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Tropical Kingbird

Tyrannus melancholicus

Published on Project Noah
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20.8481, -86.8759

Field Notes

Description:

Photo take in a mangrove area near the coast.
Common usually along about 15 to 20 cm tall.

Species ID Suggestions

Couch's Kingbird

Tyrannus couchii

Tropical Kingbird

Tyrannus melancholicus

Cassin's Kingbird

Tyrannus vociferans

Comments (11)

Thanks Liam for the ID Ava is right. Thanks Alice and Bayucca and Donna
haha yeah isn't that unfortunate for IDing it
Tahnks Alice! Tyrannus albogularis fits in my eyes best until now ;-), however, it is a South American bird and not found in Mexico.
From the photos i've seen both seem very similar in mask and the forking of the tail.The white throated king bird also appears similar to this. However i'm not to sure mexico is in its range. Good luck figuring this one out
Now it is getting exciting with 3 suggestions! ;-)... Personally I don't think it is Vociferans, although we have again some forked tail and maskings. In my eyes the key marking for Vociferans would be the clearly bounded white spot below the eye. This I can't see in the spotting above.
For me neither the forked tail and the mask are 100% indication for Melancholicus, since both have these markings. Couchii is accepted from some researchers as a subspecies of Melancholicus. And Melancholicus is the most abundant Flycatcher in the neotropics. Personally I can't separate them for sure. I am wondering about the white throat, which I have the impression I see it in Crouchii a little bit more prominent. And some of Melancholicus shows it as well. To be honest, if this would have been found in Costa Rica I would have named it Melancholicus, but in Mexico I am really not sure.
I think Liam has the ID correct. The deeply forked tail is another indication that this bird is a Tropical Kingbird
The "mask" and the long, slightly hooked bill make it a Tropical over Couch's.
I think this is a kingbird. Liam will nail it for you!

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Photographed
PublishedFebruary 11, 2012

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