(Tyrannus verticalis)
Summer
Winter
HABITAT: Open country, such as grasslands, pastures, desert shrub, and urban areas with trees, shrubs, or other tall structures for nesting
DESCRIPTION: Sulfur-yellow belly, gray chest and head with dark-gray mask; dark wings, light gray grading to grayish-olive down back; black tail with white outer edges; orange-red crown patch usually not visible
By far the best time to listen to these kingbirds is well before sunrise, when they’re among the first to greet the new day. From a perch the male sings (although not aloft like his eastern cousin), his effort sounding like fussy bickering and sputtering. Hardly a second goes by that he isn’t sputtering a low kip kip kip ki-PIP, single notes followed by an occasional quick double, and then every few seconds he delivers a flourish of louder and longer notes, ki-PEEP-PEEP-PEEP-PEEP, more tonal and on a higher frequency, the series declining in pitch and loudness. The overall effort rises in pitch and emphasis and then falls to another series of softer kip kip kip ki-PIP. For a good half hour or so he keeps it up, stopping well before sunrise, singing a complex song that is rarely heard later in the day.
There are plenty of other sounds to be heard from these bold, aggressive kingbirds. One is a single, sharp note, repeated every second or two, sounding much like whit, heard when a predator (or human) approaches too close to a nest. Or listen for the complex chittering when male and female greet each other, whether near the nest or away from it; perhaps it’s more of a “chatter,” as when the female is disturbed near the nest, a sound also used when mates greet each other. Should a predator or human get too close to a nest, the adults will no doubt attack, calling loudly and snapping their bills.
Male’s sputtering dawn song Chittering calls of male and female 
