Eastern Kingbird - Majestic or Tyrannical?

Behold the majesty of the Eastern Kingbird! This King of the Birds surveys its kingdom from its branch throne. Unfortunately for the Kingbird, many birds do not recognize its authority.

In the bird world, they're probably considered more tyrants than kings however. Although they're on the small side (quite a bit smaller than American Robins and Northern Mockingbirds), they're surprisingly willing to "mix it up" and attack far larger birds like crows, hawks, or herons [1] that they consider (perhaps correctly) to be a threat. This tyrannical behavior apparently gave them the "king" part of their common name [2] and the name of their family of birds, the tyrant flycatchers. 

May 14, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292808121, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] This doesn't seem to be a suicide mission. My guess is that their quickness and maneuverability usually saves them from dying in these encounters.

[2] Though kings and tyrants aren't exactly the same thing, there's probably enough historical overlap to justify the naming.

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