Every May, without fail, Western kingbirds return to their nesting oasis in Palouse Falls State Park. Today, Sea Bird guests found the nest of soft plant fiber, cottonwood down and animal hair in the crotch of a black locust next to the park toilets.

All the coming and going didn't phase the incubating mama kingbird only 12 feet above the pathway. The handsome male perched on an adjacent dead branch and darted out at intervals to snatch insects or to dash in frenetic pursuit after passing ravens and magpies. Their bold defense of territory, even chasing the red-tailed hawk or golden eagle, earned kingbird its name. This small park with its open stand of locust, poplar and a few cottonwood offer the tree nest sites these kingbirds need in an otherwise open sweep of plateau grassland. Kingbirds have greeted us for the last nine springs that this historian has come here with Lindblad Expedition guests. Our kingbirds have spent the winter past in Central America. They meet us here with their color, their noisy quarrels and dazzling courtship flights. It is a tryst not to be missed.