Western Kingbird Delays a Multi-state Birding Trip, Henderson County, North Carolina, August 20, 2024

Mid-morning of August 20th this post came across the local Blue Ridge Birders text group –

“Possible Western Kingbird at Mills River Park, west side of loop trail along the river.”

This was posted by Cathy Ford who is a very good birder, so I was very optimistic about her ID.  And Mills River Park is just 20 minutes from home.  I not only know the park well, but I could picture exactly where the bird was discovered. 

Ordinarily that would all seem like great news when pursuing a new NC state bird.  The problem was that I was actually just about to head out the door to get a rental car at the Asheville airport and start a 6-day birding trip in Kentucky and Ohio.  I had a long drive ahead of me to do some planned birding in central KY that evening, so I didn’t want to delay my departure.  But new NC state birds (and Henderson County birds for that matter) don’t come along very often.  Just as I was about to arrive at the airport the ID was confirmed by others.  That put me over the edge, and I decided that my KY trip could wait at least a couple hours while I pursue the Kingbird that was practically in my back yard.  I had one last chance to change my mind when another post mentioned the Kingbird had flown off toward the southern end of the trail.  But I was now committed to trying to relocate the Kingbird.

Luckily it didn’t take long to get the rental car and drive away from this small airport.  And after a quick 15-minute ride I pulled into the parking lot for the Mills River Park.  A couple of the birders who had it initially were still there, and I got the scoop on where it preferred to perch and in the general direction it had flown.  I also heard that it was actually first discovered the day before, and in the same spot, but the birder was not sure of the ID.  So if it had been there for at least 2 days, surely it would return to its favorite spot again today.  Right?

I quickly walked to the area where the Kingbird preferred to perch but only found Goldfinches and Mourning Doves in its favorite trees.  Then I spotted a Kingbird fly by and head towards the parking lot where it landed on wires with 2 other Kingbirds.  The birds were too far away to ID, so I quickly walked back to the parking lot, only to find out that they were 3 Eastern Kingbirds.  And just when I was getting optimistic…

By then 4 other birders had arrived and we all decided to head back to the Kingbird’s apparent preferred perches in the northwest corner of the loop.  I decided to give it maybe an hour before I should get on the road for my trek west.  Luckily, I only had to wait about 30 minutes before one of the birders said he had the bird – it had flown in from the south and had landed in the northwest corner in this distant tree.

Here’s a miserable digi-binned shot of the bird in the distance.  Luckily with binoculars it was still easy to see its lemony yellow breast and white outer tail feathers on an otherwise dark tail. (I should have brought the scope from the car.)

Western Kingbird was #326 for my NC list, and #249 for me in my local Henderson County.

My state bird map for Western Kingbird is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The cross-hatched states are those on the eastern edge of its regular range where I still need it.  And NC is now the 7th brown-shaded state where I’ve seen this species as a rarity along the East Coast.  Obviously they are prone to vagrancy.