On Wednesday I went looking for the young Western Kingbirds in the CyFair parking lots. When I saw that two adult Kingbirds were swooping on two Great-tailed Grackles, I knew that they must be driving the Grackles away in order to protect their young. Sure enough, both young Kingbirds were sheltering in a nearby tree.
Like all young birds, they were screaming out for food.
While waiting for their parents to oblige,the youngsters passed the time by doing some grooming.
As I headed to my office, three Common Nighthawks crossed the lot, putting on a short but spectacular display of flying.
Later in the day I went back out to see the Kingbirds. One of the young birds was perched in a tree while a parent ferried food to it.
This parent had an interesting approach to feeding its offspring. It would fly to the top of a nearby lamppost and catch a bug. Then it would fly to the tree to feed the bug to its young. After this, it would fly back to the lamppost and catch another bug, but this time would fly to another tree where it would eat the bug itself. It repeated this pattern for well over 20 minutes.
What I really wanted was a clear shot of the adult feeding the youngster. It took 25 minutes but I eventually managed it.
When I left, the youngster seemed to have eaten its fill and parent and offspring had settled down for some quiet time together.
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