Eastern Kingbird

 

 

Medium : Gouache and cut paper on illustration board

Image Size : 14.5” x 19”

Circa : Ford Times, November 1960

The Kingbird is one of the Tyrant Flycatchers, Tyrannidae - America's largest bird family - 365 different species. But this feathered gadfly is less a tyrant than a foe of tyranny, for he strikes like a guided missile at any larger winged creature that violates his airspace. Hawks, crows, owls, vultures, even eagles - all have played Goliath to his David, and he protects many a chicken-yard from surprise attack.

-Charley Harper

Ford Times, American Bird Census, November, 1960, Birds and Words, 1974