[2] Eastern kingbirds are conspicuous and are commonly found in open areas with scattered trees and bushes, where they perch while foraging for insects.

[1] The eastern kingbird was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name of Lanius tyrannus.

[4] The present genus Tyrannus was introduced in 1799 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède with the eastern kingbird as the type species.

Those pairs nesting in the open may be able to see predators coming earlier and rely on aggressive behavior to protect their young.

[9] Eastern kingbirds wait on an open perch and fly out to catch insects in flight, sometimes hovering to pick prey off vegetation.