Associated Species: Other species that may use habitat in a similar way and/or respond similarly to threats, management, and conservation activities include Great Horned Owl, American Kestrel, Lewis's Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, and Bullock's Oriole.

Distribution: Western Kingbirds breed from southwestern Canada to northern Mexico. In Colorado they are common summer residents of the eastern plains and western valleys. They winter from central Mexico south to Costa Rica.

Habitat Requirements: Kingbirds nest in open areas, including open riparian forests, agricultural areas, urban areas with scattered trees, and pinyon-juniper woodlands.

Ecology: Western Kingbirds arrive on the breeding grounds in early May. Nest building begins shortly thereafter and most young fledge by mid July. Fall migration takes place in August and September.

Management Issues and Conservation Recommendations: Altered water flows, excessive grazing, timber and firewood cutting, recreational activities, and invasions by weedy, nonnative plants have degraded the overstory in riparian zones, especially cottonwood. Reduce or eliminate activities that degrade the structure and quality of the overstory of riparian systems. Timber cutting should not be permitted within 30 m (100 ft) of the riparian area. Monitor livestock grazing to ensure tree and shrub regeneration. Design recreational facilities such as roads, trails, and campgrounds to allow the long-term persistence of wooded riparian areas (Myers 1991). Include plant species that attract large numbers of insect pollinators as prey in rehabilitation schemes in lowland riparian areas.

Status and Reasons for Concern: This species has a moderately high conservation need throughout its range, along with high representation in the physiographic area. Within Physiographic Area 87, BBS data do not show a statistically significant annual rate of change between 1966 and 1996 (P = 0.26; n = 53 routes). Western Kingbirds were present on an average of 67.55% (SE = 5.00) of the routes run in Physiographic Area 87 in Colorado, 1988-1997, at an average abundance of 5.14 (SE = 0.56) individuals per route. The mean number of routes run each year was 11.4 (SE = 1.55). This species is monitored by MCB with point transects.

Biological Objective: Maintain or increase Western Kingbirds' distribution and abundance, based upon results of the BBS and MCB monitoring programs.

Selected References: Andrews and Righter 1992, Gamble and Bergin 1996, Kingery 1998, MacKenzie and Sealey 1981.