By Sally Siko

After being sad about barely missing out on seeing a Western Kingbird (literally was 5 seconds late to see that bird!) which had shown up in Raleigh North Carolina last month, today I finally laid eyes on this lifer!
I’ve seen reports that the Kingbird had been spotted yesterday in Cedar Grove NC and figured I’d try to catch a glimpse of the bird since it was less than a 2 hour drive from home.

Luckily when I arrived at the spot of it’s last reported location I did not have to wait too long before I spotted along with a fellow birder perched on a fence wire across a wide pasture.
Although the Western Kingbird stayed far outta the reach of getting a great photo (even on my 600mm lens) I was stoked to finally see this feathered gem for the first time!

The range of the Western Kingbird normally stretches from south central and western Canada, throughout the entire western United States and all the way down into south Central America. To have one show up as far east here in central North Carolina is pretty special!

As it goes with every Kingbird I’ve ever seen, the Western wasn’t too difficult to locate despite it being a super rare find.
The reason is that the behavior of most Kingbirds is predictable in that they always seem to prefer perching on power lines, fence posts, rails and wire fences.
Knowing this trait made spotting this bird relatively easy although there were quite a few fence lines at this spot to keep an eye on for a bit before the bird finally showed up.
So glad this little guy cooperated so nicely in the end 😉

By the way, I noticed that this Western Kingbird seems to have a piece of fly tape stuck to one of his legs.
Luckily, he did not seem to be encumbered by the tape. Hopefully he will be able to free himself of it soon!

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty 50MP monster, the @canonusa #5Ds

Google Map pin drop to the Kingbird’s exact location below