Shipman's field notes, Jul 2014

These are good reference photos for midsummer Western Kingbirds. Note that a line drawn from the chin to the vent never crosses any abrupt color changes. That same line drawn on a Cassin's would suddenly go from white to medium-dark gray right at the top of the breast. Note also the ends of the rectrices show traces of wear, but nothing you'd call a light tail-tip.

In the second photo, the foreground bird shows some pink color in the skin just below the lower mandible. Not sure if this is injury or just juvenal bill growth.

In the last photo, the left-hand bird is in mid-hop. Yes, I know it is unforgiveable anthropomorphization to infer concepts like “fun” here. Maybe a nematode bit him on a sensitive spot or something.