Gray kingbird

The gray kingbird or grey kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis), also known as pitirre, petchary or white-breasted kingbird, is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatchers family Tyrannidae. The species was first described on the island of Hispaniola, then called Santo Domingo, thus the dominicensis name.

Gray kingbird
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tyrannidae
Genus: Tyrannus
Species:
T. dominicensis
Binomial name
Tyrannus dominicensis
(Gmelin, JF, 1788)
  Breeding
  Year-round
  Migration
  Nonbreeding

Taxonomy

The gray kingbird was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the shrikes in the genus Lanius and coined the binomial name Lanius dominicensis.[2][3] The specific epithet is from the locality Santo Domingo, now Hispaniola.[4] Gmelin based his description on "Le tyran de S. Domingue" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson.[5] The gray kingbird is now one of 13 species placed in the kingbird genus Tyrannus that was introduced in 1799 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède.[6] A molecular genetic study published in 2020 found that the gray kingbird was sister to the giant kingbird (Tyrannus cubensis).[7]

Two subspecies are recognised:[6]

Description

The adult gray kingbird is an average-sized kingbird. It measures 23 cm (9.1 in) in length and weighs from 37 to 52 g (1.3 to 1.8 oz).[8] The upperparts are gray, with brownish wings and tail, and the underparts are white with a gray tinge to the chest. The head has a concealed yellow crown stripe, and a dusky mask through the eyes. The dark bill is heavier than that of the related, slightly smaller, tropical kingbird. The sexes are similar, but young birds have rufous edges on the wing coverts, rump and tail.

The call is a loud rolling trill, pipiri, pipiri, which is the reason behind many of its local onomatopoeiac names, like pestigre or pitirre, in the Spanish-speaking Greater Antilles, or petchary in some of the English-speaking islands.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in increasing numbers in the state of Florida, and is more often found inland though it had been previously restricted to the coast. It breeds from the extreme southeast of the United States, mainly in Florida, as well as Central America, and through the West Indies south to Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, the Guianas, and Colombia. Northern populations are migratory, wintering on the Caribbean coast of Central America and northern South America. Several vagrant populations are known to exist in the Northeastern United States. It favors tall trees and shrubs, including the edges of savanna and marshes.

Behaviour

Like other kingbirds, these birds aggressively defend their territory against intruders, including mammals and much larger birds such as crested caracaras, red-tailed hawks and broad-winged hawks by mobbing.

Food and feeding

Gray kingbirds wait on an exposed perch high in a tree, occasionally sallying out to feed on insects (such as bees, dragonflies, wasps and beetles), their staple diet. They also eat small fruits and berries depending on its availability. Fruits and berries make up one fifth of their daily diet. Spiders and small lizards are occasionally eaten.[9]

Breeding

It makes a flimsy cup nest in a tree. The female incubates the typical clutch of two cream eggs, which are marked with reddish brown.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Tyrannus dominicensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22700509A93781676. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22700509A93781676.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1788). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 302.
  3. Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 226–227.
  4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 2. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 394-395, Plate 38, Fig. 2. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
  6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Tyrant flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  7. Harvey, M.G.; et al. (2020). "The evolution of a tropical biodiversity hotspot". Science. 370 (6522): 1343–1348. doi:10.1126/science.aaz6970. hdl:10138/329703. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here.
  8. Dunning, John B., Jr. (ed.) (1992). CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
  9. "Tyrannus_dominicensis - Grey Kingbird or Pitirre.pdf" (PDF). The University of the West Indies. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  • Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
  • ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
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