# Great Kiskadee

[![great-kiskadee-1.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/great-kiskadee-1.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/great-kiskadee-1.jpeg)

### **Description**

The Great Kiskadee is Mockingbird-sized, has bold black and white stripes on its head, a yellow underside and brown back.

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### <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">**Personal stats**</span>  


#### <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">**First observation**</span>

<table border="1" class="align-center" id="bkmrk-%F0%9F%93%86-12%2F01%2F2013-%F0%9F%93%8D-los-a" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; border-width: 1px; height: 64px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 21.234568%;"></col><col style="width: 78.518519%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 35px;"><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px; height: 35px;">📆</td><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px; height: 35px;">02/04/2018

</td></tr><tr style="height: 29px;"><td style="border-width: 1px; height: 29px; vertical-align: middle;">📍</td><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px; height: 29px;">San Antonio, Texas

</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### **Captured media details**

<table border="1" class="align-center" id="bkmrk-male-female-unknown-" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 80%; height: 87.5px; border-width: 1px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 12.962963%;"></col><col style="width: 27.006173%;"></col><col style="width: 29.938272%;"></col><col style="width: 29.938272%;"></col></colgroup><thead><tr style="height: 29.5px;"><td style="border-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td style="height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">**Male**  
</td><td style="height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">**Female**  
</td><td style="height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">**Unknown**  
</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr style="height: 29px;"><td style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">📸</td><td style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;"> </td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">✔️</td></tr><tr style="height: 29px;"><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">🎙️</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">✔️</td></tr></tbody></table>

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### **Experiences &amp; anecdotes**

**07/3/22 -** Though eBird reports I first saw the Great Kiskadee at Mitchell Lake in 2018, it was in a group setting and must’ve had a poor look at it because I have no recollection. I first truly experienced this bird on my trip to Cancun, Mexico in July of 2022.

We took a spontaneous tour to Chichen Itza, and while there, we spotted several Great Kiskadees. The first ones we saw were busy moving about a tree. A while later, we saw one on the ground in the dirt, which was weird. We weren’t sure what it was doing exactly, perhaps a dust bath?

Seeing as I didn’t have my camera on this trip, I had to photograph it with my phone through my binoculars.

**01/12/23** - On a recent trip to South Padre Island, Texas, I had many opportunities to see and hear the Great Kiskadee from a close distance at the [Birding and Nature Center](https://becausebirds.com/a-rare-visitor-at-south-padre-island-birding-and-nature-center/).

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### **Captured media**

#### **Photographs**

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">**[![great-kiskadee-2.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/great-kiskadee-2.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/great-kiskadee-2.jpeg)**</span>

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-an-american-kestrel--1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td class="align-center" style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">Time for a dust bath. Digiscoped with binoculars. 07/03/2022</span>*</td></tr></tbody></table>

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">  
</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">[![great-kiskadee-3.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/great-kiskadee-3.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/great-kiskadee-3.jpeg)</span>

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-a-poofed-up-kestrel-" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 29px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29px;"><td class="align-center" style="height: 29px; background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*A Great Kiskadee perched on a power line. 07/03/2022*</td></tr></tbody></table>

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">  
</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*[![great-kiskadee-1.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/great-kiskadee-1.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/great-kiskadee-1.jpeg)*</span>

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-the-american-kestrel-1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td class="align-center" style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*A Kiskadee perched on a thorny branch in South Padre Island | 01/08/2023*</td></tr></tbody></table>

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#### **Audio recordings**

- [**ML521349181**](https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/521349181)- 1:05 
    - These are the calls of the Great Kiskadee as it sat in a tree near a man-made waterfall.

<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="392" src="https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/521349181/embed" width="320"></iframe>

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### **From my blogs**

- [Birding in Cancun and Chichen Itza](https://becausebirds.com/birding-in-cancun-and-chichen-itza)
- [A rare visitor at South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center](https://becausebirds.com/a-rare-visitor-at-south-padre-island-birding-and-nature-center)