Extreme southern USA (southern Texas), eastern Mexico (Tamaulipas and northern Nuevo León south to north-eastern Oaxaca, northern and western Chiapas, and east to Yucatán Peninsula), northern Guatemala and Belize.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 1,700,000 (2010).
Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii) [XC371815]
by Jacob R. Saucier from General Bravo, Nuevo Le\u00f3n, Mexico (song)
Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii) [XC404720]
by Paul Marvin from Texas: Kinney County; Brackettville, Fort Clark, United States (call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Closest relatives of genus may be Empidonomus and Tyrannopsis. Recent molecular-sequence data indicate present genus is monophyletic and sister-group to clade that includes Empidonomus and Griseotyrannus. There are two main clades within genus, loosely corresponding to "tropical species assemblage" and combination of "W" and "E" species groups of earlier authors, but with some exceptions. Formerly treated as conspecific with Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) owing to limited hybridization in Mexico (southern Veracruz, Atlantic slope of northern Oaxaca), and possibly intergrades with it, but differs significantly in voice. Furthermore, recent molecular data indicate that these two are not each other's closest relatives, but that present species is part of a clade within the "tropical assemblage" that also includes White-throated Kingbird (Tyrannus albogularis) and Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana), although relationships among these remain uncertain. Has been suggested, on basis of similarities in voice and certain aspects of behaviour, that this species may be closest to Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans), Thick-billed Kingbird (Tyrannus crassirostris) and Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis), although this not supported by molecular data. A probable hybrid with Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) is reported from New York (USA). Northern birds said to have longer wing and those from Yucatán Peninsula (proposed as subspecies chloronotus) have longer bill than individuals from Guatemala and Belize, but differences insufficient to warrant naming of geographical subspecies.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet