Posted by Dave Irons (67.1.44.138) on August 09, 2003 at 23:10:37:
Beyond the yellowish appearance of the belly, this bird looks like a fairly typcial juvenile Eastern Kingbird. Several factors point to this bird being a juvenile. The paler almost brownish looking wing coverts broadly edged with with creamy white is typcial for fresh juv. E. Kingbird. The grayish wash across the upper breast is also quite typical for juvs. of this species. The demarcation between the dark and light areas of the face and neck are less crisp than what one expects on adult E. Kingbird, again quite typical for juveniles. The overall tone of the the crown and nape and side neck is slightly paler and looks more grayish and less black than on an adult E. Kingbird. Again, the dark areas being paler than on adults, a standard look for juv. E. Kingbird. It has been a few years since I last saw juv. E. Kingbirds (living in the Midwest then), but if memory serves me correctly, they can look slightly yellow underneath right out of the nest. Given the date (June 15th) this would be a recently fledged bird.
I realize some are suggesting that this bird is a WEKI X EAKI hybrid. I would expect such a hybrid to show characterisitics
intermediate between both species. The only aspect of this bird that points away from juv. E. Kingbird is the slight yellowish wash underneath. The bill on this bird is much too small for Thick-billed Kingibird. I would be surprised if this bird isn't a juvenile Eastern Kingbird.