= winter SSS SS 
2 ; 
miles a 
° 200 400 600_—800 
Fig. 7. — General distribution of the western kingbird. The 
outlined range may include large sections in which populations of the 
species are thin or even absent because of the nature of the terrain and 
paucity of suitable habitat. 
the nest site was approached. The ultimate fate of the 
nest was not determined. 
Another breeding record for the species was obtained 
only about 4 miles northwest of the Kilbourne nest on 
August 14, 1967 when Robert W. Guth (personal 
communication) found a family of western kingbirds 2 
miles east of Bath, Illinois. Two young were being fed by 
both adult birds, and a third young was found dead on 
the road nearby. A family of western kingbirds with 
young found near Winnetka, Illinois on August 13, 1970 
was almost certainly another Illinois breeding record 
(Petersen 19700). 
Despite these nesting records, we did not include 
Illinois within the regular North American breeding 
range of the species (Fig. 7) because of our stated policy 
(Graber et al. 1970) of drawing the range limits 
conservatively to indicate areas of regular occurrence of 
dependable populations. 
There are widely scattered records of western 
kingbirds in the state (Fig. 8), and the relatively large 
number of records for northeastern Illinois may only 
reflect the greater number of observers in that area. 
The seasonal distribution of Illinois records of the 
western kingbird is shown in Fig. 9. The earliest spring 
10 
WESTERN KINGBIRD 
DISTRIBUTION RECORDS 
NESTS OR YOUNG 
8 | McHENRY, iver 
\ > nas erniseonfusnech 
reg 
@ 1950 — wl 
° ce } » 
A 1900 — 1949 ee “ts 
™@ BEFORE 1900 5 a “anf 
a ie HENRY | 1 oll asa w 
PAIRS OR SINGING 
” 
wafsna | [ 7 | 
MALES (JUNE) rau 
Z LIVINGSTON | 
O 1950— wie i | 
YT M EAN | a 
A 1900 — 1949 ue | a 
O BEFORE 1900 soe [77 ome 
F SaSneaid Fos 
PIKE scotty 
5 OULTRIEL 5 —— 5 
—T [a 
E pr huncoush won| = 
5 ee ee f_ |errmona hen 
F F MADISON ee | e 5 | 
(e) ote 
SB) Pe 
/ 
CLINTGN 
/ 
ST CLAIR 
§ SPRING RECORD 
f FALL RECORD 
WASHINGTON 
NUMBER OF RECORDS 
APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT 
Fig. 9. — Seasonal distribution of the western kingbird ret 
Illinois, showing the weekly distribution of all dated records 
species (1924-1971). | 
| 
record was a bird seen near Fairbury, Illinois Ap 
1965 (Fawks 1966a), and the latest fall record wé 
bird at Springfield, Illinois October 23, 1948 (Mi 
1949a). The peaks of records in the spring and fal 
9) seem to indicate that most of the Illinois reco 
this species represent migrants. The ratio of 
records to fall records is almost exactly one to ont 
| 
