Chi-beer, chi-bew, chi-beeeer-beeeer-beeeer
Cassin's Kingbird is easily distinguished by a yellow belly, dark gray head and breast, which accentuates the white throat patch. The tail tip is also white, and it has a thick bill. This species of kingbird is locally common around tall cottonwoods, ponderosa pine clearings in forests, as well as in oak savannah. They will even be found in higher elevations than other kingbirds. More of a southwestern bird, it is seen in Oklahoma in one of the hottest spots that I have ever discovered, Black Mesa State Park, and chances are mediocre to good that it is still breeding there.
Like tyrant flycatchers do, it settles upon a perch like limbs, barbed wire, and fenceposts to sally for insects either in flight or upon the ground. They will also consume fruit and seeds.
Cassin's Kingbird
Patagonia Town Park, 2018
Mating rituals are of interest with flycatchers. They will hover in place with outstretched wings upon a perch calling in a high pitched tone. This occurs several times daily, usually in a favored hunting spot.
Trees, fenceposts, and bushes are used for nest sites, but most are found in great heights in taller trees.
Cassin's and Western Kingbirds have a low tolerance for one another, but have clearly been seen nesting in the same tree. Collective terms for the species are tyranny, court, and coronation.
There had been mention that a Cassin's was observed in Oklahoma feeding a juvenile Western Kingbird repeatedly in 1997, which raises the question as to whether they may hybridize upon occasion.
Cassin's Kingbird and Other Birds on Panhandle and in Southeast AZ
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/05/birding-on-shoestring-life-on-oklahoma.html
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/05/birding-on-shoestring-american_6.html
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