#ABARare - Thick-billed Kingbird - Ontario

On Tuesday, August 28, Bill Gilmour discovered a Thick-billed Kingbird at Presqu'ile Provincial Park near Brighton, Ontario.  Pending acceptance, this is a first provincial record - and a first record for the eastern half of the continent - and a second record for Canada. 

photo by David Beadle, used with permission

Presqu'ile Provincial Park is located on the shore of Lake Ontario, two hours east of Toronto.  From Toronto, travel east on ON-401 E.  At exit 497, turn right onto County Rd 25/Percy Street, and then left again onto County Rd 2 towards Brighton.  Directions to Presqu'ile PP are well marked from Brighton. 

The bird was first seen at the Calf Pasture, where the first cottages begin on Bayshore Drive, but as of this afternoon (8/28) it has been regularly seen on the opposite side of the road.

Thick-billed Kingbird is a resident breeder in the ABA Area only in extreme southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, but it ranges south throughout western Mexico to Guatemala.   It strays regularly to southern California, and there are several accounts, including confirmed breeding, in the Big Bend region of Texas.  Vagrancy beyond that is spotty- the bird is a rarity even in northern Arizona - but there are single records from British Columbia (1974), Nevada (1996), Utah (2009), and Colorado (1992).  Prior to this individual, the species had no record of vagrancy east of the Rockies.