The AOU Checklist of 1983, based on Traylor’s studies (Traylor 1979), split the Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) into two separate species, Tropical Kingbird and Couch’s Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii), thus creating almost insurmountable identification problems for field observers. The two species are virtually identical and are separable only by call. Of about 40 reports of this complex in Florida and Alabama, only 11 were calling birds, or about one in four.
Author: Robert A. Duncan
Volume Number: 47 Year Published: 2001
Issue Number: 2
Page Number: 45
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/2001/Vol 47 No 2 2001_45-49.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/2001/Vol 47 No 2 2001.pdf
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