Eastern Phoebe
Sayornis phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe is one of our better known eastern flycatchers...but since they are flycatchers and feed mostly on insects, you probably won’t see them much at your feeders. You might see them sitting on a low perch twitching their tails as they look for flying insects. These brown and white songbirds will often place their mud and grass nests in protected nooks on bridges, barns and houses and might even reuse that nest year after year. They are one of our earliest returning migrants in the spring.

Fun Facts*

• In 1804, the Eastern Phoebe became the first banded bird in North America. John James Audubon (gosh, why does that name sound familiar?) attached silver thread to an Eastern Phoebe’s leg to track its return in successive years.
• They like nesting sites near wooded areas or with woody understory vegetation nearby, maybe to make nest sites less visible.
• Flying insects make up most of their diet such as wasps, beetles, dragonflies, moths, and flies; but they also eat spiders, ticks and millipedes, as well as small fruits and seeds once in awhile.
• Don’t mistake the Black-capped Chickadee’s sweet, whistled “fee-bee” call for the the Eastern Phoebe call; it is much quicker and raspier.
• In early summer, you can quietly explore around old buildings, bridges, eaves and overhangs and you might spot a nest!

* Some information taken from Cornell Lab of Ornithology site All About Birds.

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