Last week while I was up in Box Elder County looking for birds I saw several juvenile Western Kingbirds begging to be fed by the adults that were nearby. I couldn’t get any decent images of the kingbird juveniles because of my distance from them and the fact that they were partially hidden by railings from a corral that was painted green but those juveniles did remind me of photos I had taken last year of some juvenile kingbirds next to a different country road in Box Elder County that I had never processed.
Juvenile Western Kingbird next to a country road – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Juvenile Western Kingbirds may look sweet like this one does perched on a fence but they can be rather pushy when it comes to demanding food from their parents and they are also quite noisy too while they are begging.
Curious Western Kingbird juvenile – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1600, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
At this age the juvenile Western Kingbirds are beginning to learn to hunt on their own but the adult kingbirds still feed them because they miss more prey when they hunt than they catch. It is fun to watch them try though and I feel myself cheering them on when they dive towards the ground after prey.
Juvenile Western Kingbird perched on a fence in Box Elder County – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The Western Kingbird juveniles in these photos are just a little bit older than the ones I saw last week. I hope I will see more juveniles this summer that I can photograph while they beg and learn to hunt on their own where I don’t have to deal with the rails of a corral being in the way.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Western Kingbird photos plus facts and information about this species.
Great images of the youngsters. Their begging behavior brings to mind that of a juvenile Loggerhead Shrike I saw last week. It attacked the parent and they actually fell to the ground as if locked in mortal combat, vocalizing loudly.
The pushy, noisy, demanding youngsters is something which crosses species effortlessly. The beauty of these young ‘uns is amazing.
Wonderful photos, great detail…can even see the rictals…such pretty, subtlely colored little birds…hate that damned devil’s wite…so cruel, but thrn, humans are…(with some very good, very kind exceptions)….
I have noticed more kingbirds this year over last. What I see more of again this year is ringnecked pheasants, huge families of young. Perhaps they nest better in hot dry years?
I am afraid I might lose track of my older photos. I immediately set to work on my photos and delete the bad ones. Good and “documentation” photos go on my eBird lists (and thus into Cornell’s Macaulay Online Library). Good and better photos go in my pBase online archive. Best and interesting photos get queued up for my blog. Then every few months I make sure to back up my photos on my external drive. Ooh, which reminds me…
Beautiful photos Mia.