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Bird Photos: Rarities: Cassin's Kingbird, San Benito County

I believe this Cassin's Kingbird was first reported by Matthew Dodder from 2/5/05 near the Panoche Inn, Panoche Valley, San Benito Co., CA. There was another being seen near the Paicines Reservoir and the store at the junction of Panoche Rd. and Hwy 25, also in San Benito Co. This species is more uncommon than rare in this area.

   
 

I photographed this Cassin's Kingbird on 2/20/05. It was hard to miss as we approached the Panoche Inn. It worked from the roadside fence. In the soft lighting of the overcast sky, it's white chin was very obvious. The dark gray face and breast contrasted with the chin to set this feature off.

The outer webs of the tail showed a bit of white, but it was not prominent like on a Western Kingbird. A white terminal tail band was not very obvious.
   
 

   
The thin outer web of the tail showed up in the shot to the right. The terminal tail band, though not prominent, shows a bit more in this shot, too.  
   

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