Bruce Fall, Minneapolis
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The Tropical/Couch's Kingbird at Murphy-Hanrehan Park (Scott Co.) is now
in its 7th day. I studied it this morning from 7:10-10:20; it was
visible at least 2 hours during this time at its usual location on the
hill west and north of marker 36. At 10:12, as I watched it with Karl
Roe and Dick Miller, it finally broke its long stretch of silence by
giving a single call note in response to a cowbird that landed nearby
(we saw it call as well). The call, which I feel is diagnostic, was a
high-pitched, stuttering rapid trill that lasted about 0.5-1 sec. Having
listened to many calls of both Couch's and Tropical kingbirds on
xeno-canto and elsewhere over the past week (and as recently as this
morning), I recognized it immediately as Tropical Kingbird. Shortly
after, I played the TRKI call from iBird Pro ("Tropical Kingbird 2", 1st
couple of calls) and we all three agreed that it sounded virtually
identical. I am now confident that this bird is a Tropical Kingbird. Of
course, the final decision as to its identity is with the MOU Records
Committee. If approved by MOURC, this will be the first state record. As
Kim noted, a previous photographed Tropical/Couch's Kingbird from Duluth
in Oct. 2011 did not vocalize and could not be identified to species. I
hope others have the opportunity to hear it, but it clearly has been
frustratingly silent. This was my 5th trip totaling over 15 hours of
field time (with the kingbird in view and close enough to hear at least
5 hours), and I have heard only this one call. Getting a recording will
be a real challenge.
