Eastern Phoebe - a Flycatcher

The Eastern Phoebe may be considered a small bird lacking fancy colors, but this common yard bird is known for its hawking of insects. Don’t miss out on watching him feed.

The Flycatchers

The phoebe is a flycatcher in the group of birds which includes Pewees, Kingbirds, Crested Flycatchers and Empidonaxes. He has a gray-brown back and wings and a pale green, almost white belly. His bill is dark and thin, just right for the food he prefers--insects.

Eastern Phoebes, Sayornis phoebe, are about seven inches long and can be easily recognizing by its dark face and white throat if you remember he has no white eye streak or ring. Male and female of this species look alike. Watch him long and you will notice that this common yard bird wags his tail up and down and spreads it when he is perched.

Phoebe’s Voice

The voice of this bird is an easy one to recognize because the bird’s name mimics the sound “fee-bee, fee-bee.” The bird makes this noise repeatedly. I have often compared it to the sound of a baby’s squeaky toy—“fee-bee, fee-bee, fee-bee” until a mother is ready to pull out her hair! Phoebes also call with a “chirp.”

The male Phoebe defends about two and up to four acres of territory with his fee-bee song and also by chasing off other birds. The male arrives earliest in the spring and scopes out an area. It is not likely that you will find more than one pair in a small yard. The bird prefers rocky ravines, cliffs, suburban areas, and farmlands.

Phoebe’s Nest

The female arrives to build the nest on a shelf like projection like a barn or porch rafter, under bridges or overpasses, along rocky ledges, or concrete or wooden walls. The female does all the nest building and incubation of 3 to 6 smooth oval non-glossy white eggs, one or two of which may boast sparse brown spots.

Phoebe nests are often victims of brown-headed cowbirds. (Twenty-five percent of Phoebe nests are invaded by cowbirds.) If the female finds a cowbird egg in her nest before she has begun to lay eggs, she may abandon the nest. There is often a period of three weeks before the eggs are laid and this gives the cowbird interloper a chance to sneak in an egg.

The nest large and well-constructed of grasses and weeds and mud, and lined with hair, finer grasses, down, and moss. The nest will be semicircular if it is attached to a ledge or wall and fully round if it is built on a beam or rafter. The female incubates eggs alone for a period of 15 or 16 days. She usually raises two broods a year.

The Phoebe migrates to the southern United States and when found in eastern and southern Oklahoma is a non-migrator staying all year in half of the state. It is the only flycatcher that winters in the southeastern U.S. when all other flycatcher overwinter in the tropics.

Hawking

All flycatchers exhibit the behavior called “hawking.” This refers to the bird perching on the end of a dead branch or other exposed perch to wait for passing insects. On spying a tasty morsel flying by, the Phoebe will sweep off its perch, catch the insect, and return with its prey to the same branch to eat it.

Feeding Phoebes

Though Phoebes are fun to watch, since their chief food is insects, they won’t be spotted feasting on seeds at your feeders. I have enjoyed watching a pair nest under my porch (except for the early morning song). It is fun to watch them hawk for insects—dashing here and there yet returning to the same spot.

As you are enjoying your feeder birdwatching, keep an eye out for this unassuming little bird and you may be delighted to spot a pair in your own backyard.

“I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way that I could.”John James Audubon, American ornithologist