wests on da' nest...

Western Kingbird, 2.5mi NW of Breaux Bridge

06 July 2011; note dangling nest pieces, lower left

(photo by Bill Fontenot)

Even though it's always “now,” time sure does fly, y'know?


I've been wanting to post a 'tough plants for tough times' gardening piece; and even though recent rains have temporarily quashed The Big Dry that we've been experiencing here over the past several years, I promise to get around to that one. For now, though, the big nature news down here around Lafayette is Gary Broussard's recent discovery of nesting Western Kingbirds just northwest of Breaux Bridge.

He first observed an adult bird on May 22 at a big pasture/powerline complex at the corner of d'Augereaux Rd. X Saw Mill Hwy (LA 354), and emailed me about it, as we both live in the vicinity. Though interesting, this was no big deal, since Western Kingbirds are pretty much “expected” throughout much of Louisiana, especially during migration periods.

But when he saw it again at the same place around noon on June 05, things began to get interesting. Rare nesters in Louisiana, mostly confined to several pairs annually up in the Shreveport area, where landscape values more closely match those of its more usual Great Plains/western U.S. breeding range, any Western Kingbird seen in our state in the month of June is a potential candidate for breeding/nesting. Any nesting noted anywhere outside of northwestern Louisiana would be big news indeed.

When he saw it again at the same place on July 04, that was enough for me. On the following evening (July 05), I went out there, camera-equipped, with grandson Bernie Robichaux tagging along. A thunderstorm had just passed, and thanx to Bernie's sharp eyes we saw two birds further east on d'Augereaux Road, both perched high on nearby mega-powerlines, yet widely separated. So I didn't get a chance to do any photographing. Thankfully, Gary had succeeded in photographing one bird earlier that day, watching it feed at least one nestling at a nest lodged on a crossbar of a wooden power pole on the road side. He also saw the second bird at that time. Returning at noon that same day, he was able to get a photo that showed one adult and the rubbery yellow/red bill of one nestling poking out of the nest. Now that's an outstanding job of documentation. Good on ya' mate.

05 July 2011; note one nestling's mouth just above the crossbar (lower right)

photo by Gary Broussard

Due to his cavalieresque propensity for finding interesting birds, I used to call Gary a Bird Dog; but over the years I've come to realize that he's much more of a Bird Whisperer. Rare birds simply want to show themselves to him. They throw themselves at his feet, praying that he'll at least glance at them.

Anyway, I finally got decent photos of one adult and the nest at 7:30pm (July 06) as I was heading out to see/hear the fabulous Cathead Biscuit Boys at Cafe' des Amis in Breaux Bridge. Traffic was light at that time, and I could park near the nest, and the sun/light was in my favor.  On the evening of July 09, Bernie, his sister Lauren and I, returned to check on the birds, seeing one adult on the crossbar, the other on the nest.

06 July 2011; one adult at (relative) ease, the other (hidden) on the nest

(photo by Fontenot)

Time ticked and Gary stuck with it, observing a second nestling in the early morning hours of July 12. Finally, around noon on July 14, he snapped this awesome photo of the two nestlings – now fledglings – perched vulnerably-low ([sigh]; as fledglings often do...) on the fence below the nest “with parents looking on nervously.”

Western Kingbird fledglings, 14 July 2011

Free at Last, Free at Last...

(photo by Gary Broussard)

Away from the Shreveport area, there are precious few June records of Western Kingbird – the month in which nesting should be strongly suggested, if not confirmed. On June 20, 1970, New Orleans birder Dan Purrington saw an individual in St. Landry parish, three miles north of Lebeau; and most recently (June 06, 2008) a bird was observed by Lafayette bird biologist Bill Vermillion on West Etienne Road in Vermilion parish, about seven miles north of LA 14 between Abbeville and Kaplan.

As far as we know, though, the only other recorded/confirmed instance of Western Kingbird nesting in south Louisiana came on June 11, 1966, when A. W. Palmisano spied a nest attended by two adults at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge (coastal Cameron parish). By June 23 he noted one adult still incubating on the nest, but the ultimate fate of this attempt was not resolved.

In Louisiana, the Western Kingbird is classed as a “rare to casual (= “occasional” = not observed/recorded every year)” spring and fall migrant; casual in winter; and an uncommon breeder in the Red River ag lands around Shreveport. Louisiana's first-ever record of Western Kingbird dates back just about as far as our records go: an early-April sighting at Barataria Bay in 1837 by none other than John James Audubon.