One for #ThrowbackThursday dating to July 4, 2016. Western kingbirds are known to be bullies, fearless in taking on much larger raptors that intrude on their territory. I recently shared an image of one chasing off an osprey and that brought to mind this image.
Taken at a bald eagle nest southwest of Denver, the kingbirds had opted to setup their home in the area as well that summer. While the eagles were longtime residents, the new arrivals didn’t defer to them one bit and were sometimes incessant in their pestering of the raptors.
On this day, both the adult kingbirds went after mama eagle, diving at her and, as this image shows, even seeming to try to bite at her. She largely ignored them although they did strike her a couple times which she did not appreciate.
