0 the tropical kingbird (tyrannus melancholicus) is a large tyrant flycatcher .
1  this bird breeds from southern arizona and the lower rio grande valley of texas in the usa through central america , south america as far as south as central argentina and western peru , and on trinidad and tobago .
2  birds from the northernmost and southern breeding areas migrate to warmer parts of the range after breeding .
3 an adult tropical kingbird is 22 cm long and weighs 39 g .
4  the head is pale grey , with a darker eye mask , an orange crown stripe , and a heavy grey bill .
5  the back is greyish-green , and the wing and forked tail are brown .
6   the throat is pale grey , becoming olive on the breast , with the rest of the underparts being yellow .
7  the sexes are similar , but young birds have pale buff edges on the wing coverts .
8  the call is a high-pitched twittering trill , tree-e-e-e-e-e-e , with a more complex version sung by the male at dawn .
9 their breeding habitat is semi-open areas with trees and shrubs , including gardens and roadsides .
10  tropical kingbirds like to observe their surroundings from a prominent open perch , usually high in a tree , undertaking long sally flights to acrobatically catch insects in mid-air , sometimes hovering to pick food off vegetation .
11  they also eat some fruit from such diverse species as tamanqueiro (alchornea glandulosa), the annonaceae , cymbopetalum mayanum and gumbo-limbo (bursera simaruba); foraging for these even in disturbed habitat .
12  as they keep mainly to the upper levels of trees , they find little profit in following mixed-species feeding flocks in the understory .
13 these birds aggressively defend their territory against intruders , even much larger birds such as magnificent frigatebirds , toucans , caracaras or hawks .
14  in a study in parque nacional de la macarena of colombia , parasitism by microfilariae and trypanosomas (presumably t .
15  everetti) was infrequently recorded in tropical kindbirds .
16 they make a flimsy cup nest in a tree .
17  the female incubates the typical clutch of two or three cream eggs , which are marked with reddish-brown , for 16 days , with about 18-19 further days to fledging .
18 widespread , common and adaptable , the tropical kingbird is not considered a threatened species by the iucn .
