Tropical Kingbird

Sightings
Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus was seen regularly on both islands of Trinidad and Tobago. This photograph was taken from the roadside in the Main Forest Reserve of Tobago where it was a common visitor to the forest edge. It is often seen on telephone and electricity wires. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve of 3,958 hectares was proclaimed in 1776 when it was realised that deforestation was seriously impacting the island’s supplies of fresh water. It is thought to be the oldest protected reserve in the western hemisphere (and possibly on earth? / jc).

Species
Tropical Kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher, a member of a Neotropical bird family with some 436 species (the world’s largest bird family? / jc).

Status and Distribution
A species of least concern with a range of more than 28 million square kilometres. This bird breeds from southern Arizona and the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States through Central America, South America as far as south as central Argentina and western Peru, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Birds from the northernmost and southern breeding areas migrate to warmer parts of the range after breeding.

References
Wikipedia: BirdLife: Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 198.

Photographs
Taken at the forest edge at 1/400th second, f5.6 and ISO 2000.