Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B).
Vagrant to Cuba, Panama, St Pierre and Miquelon (P).
Breeds in western and central North America (southern from southern interior British Colombia, southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, east to western Minnesota, western Iowa, western Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas) and northern Mexico (northern Baja California, also southern on mainland to southern Sonora and north-western Chihuahua). Winters from southern Mexico (Pacific coast and adjacent interior from southern Jalisco and Guerrero to southern Chiapas), southern Guatemala, El Salvador, south-western Honduras and western Nicaragua south to Costa Rica (Terraba region).
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 19,000,000 (2010).
Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) [XC606772]
by Richard E. Webster from Silver Creek, Perilla Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona, United States (call, song)
Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) [XC606773]
by Richard E. Webster from San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, Cochise County, Arizona, United States (call, interaction calls)
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. Phylogenetic analyses indicate a clade is formed with Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), to which Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) is basal, within an "eastern and western species group" that also includes Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) and perhaps Loggerhead Kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus) and/or Giant Kingbird (Tyrannus cubensis). It has been suggested, on basis of similarities in voice and certain aspects of behaviour, that it may be closest to Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii), Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) and Thick-billed Kingbird (Tyrannus crassirostris) but this is not yet fully evaluated with molecular data.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet