Walking along the sidewalk outside my hotel in Denver, Colorado, I caught sight of a beautiful shade of yellow on the breast of a bird that flew by me. I watched as it came to rest in a nearby tree, but couldn’t identify it.
Like the Black-billed Magpie that I featured yesterday, this bird, which I am pretty sure is a Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis), is not found in Northern Virginia where I live.
As I watched, this bird flew off several times, presumably in search of insects, but returned to the same perch each time at the top of a tree. I would have liked to have watched this beautiful bird for a while longer, but duty called—this is a business trip after all.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great shots, Mike! How nice that you’re getting a chance to see some western birds.
Alas, I’m only in Denver for a short time. I guess that I’ll have to plan a longer Western trip for the future.
I am planning a trip to Texas to see birds. Big bird festival. I know how it gets to be the same old same old, but I still appreciate those birds we have in our state. I saw your comment on another blog about “common backyard birds.” The western Kingbird is much different than our eastern model. They have a “soft” appearance.
You did really capture some great shots; this bird is completely unknown to me, certainly not common in my local area.
Nice shots for a point and shoot!
[…] Western Kingbird […]
My daughter lives in Front Royal ,VA and sent me a picture of this bird perched outside her window. We wonder how it came this far east.
It’s hard to explain, but sometimes it seems like birds get really lost. One winter we had a West coast hummingbird in our area.