I saw my first Greater Kiskadee on a birding trip to the famous King Ranch in the Coastal Bend of Texas. We left early in the morning from Kingsville, Texas and found many varieties of birds in the live oak sand habitat in the Rio Grande River area of Texas. This was a great birding outing, however, when I saw my first Kiskadee I knew this was going to be a special trip. I spent many hours in my woodcarving studio where I carve primarily birds. I knew that I would not rest until I had carved this bird. It took a long time, since I had to study the bird, collect reference material and then design a carving pattern before I was able to cut out the bird from a piece of aged tupelo wood. As far as I know, there is no other detailed Kiskadee carving that has been handcrafted in the state of Texas. I have done all I possibly could to duplicate this wonderful bird in a wood sculpture.

The Greater Kiskadee is a fascinating bird in many ways. First from a pictorial perspective it is simply a gorgeous looking bird. The breast and belly is a deep yellow that blends to white at the throat. The back is a rich sienna color. Each feather is edged with a lighter sienna tone. The darker brown and black head has a crest of canary yellow that is hidden for the most part, but provides a bright yellow flash when the bird is aggravated or excited.

It feeds similar to most flycatchers and king birds. It perches on a high branch or power line and spots flying insects with its extremely good vision and then swoops down scooping up the insect to eat it on its perch. The Greater Kiskadee has also learned to fish. It mimicks a kingfisher by perching on a suitable branch over a lake or stream from where it crash dives into the water after fish, frogs and other aquatic critters.