Western Kingbird with down near a Bullock’s Oriole nest – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
At times I see some odd things in the field and two days ago that was what appeared to be a Western Kingbird attempting to take over a Bullock’s Oriole nest. I had spotted a pair of Bullock’s Orioles fly into a Netleaf Hackberry on the side of dirt road in Box Elder County and I hoped to photograph them. Then I found their nest hanging from the branches of the hackberry.
Before I could locate the Bullock’s Orioles in the hackberry a pair of Western Kingbirds flew into the tree and chattered nosily from the branches. When I focused on one of the kingbirds I noticed that it had down or fur in its bill. I thought at the time that they might be building a nest in the same tree as the Bullock’s Orioles.
I wasn’t able to take photos of the orioles out in the open but I did get a few of the Western Kingbirds. The images below are just for documentary purposes due to poor lighting conditions and a cluttered setting.
Bullock’s Oriole nest in a Netleaf Hackberry – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 500, EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
In this photo the light colored Bullock’s Oriole nest can be seen hanging below some of the green leaves of the hackberry and the female is nearly hidden by the leaves to the left of the nest. She and her mate flew in several times while I observed and photographed the activity at the nest.
Female Bullock’s Oriole entering her nest in a Netleaf Hackberry – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/400, ISO 500, EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
In this image the female Bullock’s Oriole can be seen entering the nest. In other photos I took of her entering the nest I could see nesting materials in her bill.
Western Kingbird with nesting material at a Bullock’s Oriole nest – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/400, ISO 500, EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
What was odd is that I also saw and photographed a Western Kingbird, presumably the female since they build the nest in their species, with nesting materials entering the nest of the Bullock’s Oriole a couple of times.
I looked up nesting behaviors for Western Kingbirds at Cornell’s Birds of the World and found this bit of information:
Rarely uses abandoned Northern Oriole nests (Kennedy 1915, Quigley 1944, Bergin 1992a).
If Western Kingbirds rarely nest in Northern Oriole nests they might also nest in Bullock’s Oriole nests. But taking it over from an active pair of breeding Bullock’s Orioles does seem confounding to me.
I did see the pair of Bullock’s Orioles chase after the Western Kingbirds. When the orioles were away from the nest the kingbird pair came back to it.
Western Kingbird entering a Bullock’s Oriole nest – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/400, ISO 500, EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This last image shows the same Western Kingbird in the photo above entering the nest with the nesting materials she had in her bill.
It was extremely fascinating to watch the behaviors of both species of bird at this nest. I wish I could have stayed longer to observe and photograph more of their interactions and behaviors but by this time my deer fly bite was starting to swell up and I needed to get ice on it.
I do wonder… which species will actually lay eggs in this nest.
In the midst of all the bird activity at this nest I also spotted a Long-tailed Weasel climb the hackberry tree. It looked like it was trying to get to the nest and the male Bullocks Oriole dive bombed it and chased the weasel off. I’d never seen that before either!
Life is good. Birds and their behaviors are amazing.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Western Kingbird photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here to see more of my Bullock’s Oriole photos plus facts and information about this species.
Excellent series of pics. The narrative is really interesting and helpful. Thanks Mia.
Very acute observations. It will be interesting to see the outcome– which species will prevail?
An action packed interlude. I do hope the original buildings retain their nest, but…
And like Marty, I hope your bites are disappearing.
Wow — that is some definite competition! I wonder who will triumph.
I hope your bites are subsiding and that you’re feeling much better today. ❤️
Wow, very neat morning with all that activity. No wonder you were so distracted by all the animal life you forgot to swat at the insect life!
Wow, what a great observational moment – so cool that you were right there with your camera! One theory I’ve seen is that Orioles nest very near Kingbirds in order to take advantage of the Kingbird’s aggressive defense of their nest against predators. But I haven’t found any accounts of the two sharing a nest. Very interesting!