Birds of Arlington - Eastern Phoebe

Birds of Arlington

Eastern Phoebe

(Sayornis phoebe)

Genders Alike

Present: Summer & Migration

Visual Identification

Where and When to see them

Visual Identification

The Eastern Phoebe is a bit larger than a House Sparrow. They have a gray back, wing coverts, tail, nape, and wings. They have a white belly and breast occasionally with a buff streak down the middle. They have a slight brown vest that appears next to their wings. Their flight feathers stand out because the outside edge of each feather is white. They have a tail that is forked when perching, but can look curved when the tail touches a surface. Eastern Phoebes have a black to dark gray cap, front, and feathers above ad below the eye. They have a graphite colored bill with visible bristle hairs. If you look closely at the second photo in this gallery you can see that the Eastern Phoebe has a dark caramel eye with a black pupil.

Voice

The Eastern Phoebe is named after this fee-be call. With each syllable of the call, the Phoebe raises their tail and opens their bill. This call is shrill and can carry throughout a forest. When the call comes from the tops of the trees ahead, it may seem like it is coming from far ahead in the understory.

Habitat

Both male and female Eastern Phoebe spend most of their time in mature forest, forest edge habitats, and woodland clearings, usually above or near a stream. During migration they are found about anywhere wooded, including willow thickets, ponds, marshes, open woodland, and suburban neighborhoods.

Behavior

The Eastern Phoebe flycatches as most flycatchers do. Flycatching is a behavior in which a flycatcher perches on a conspicuous perch, usually on a high branch in a dead tree, shrub, or other plant. While perching they look around themselves, watching flies. Then they dart off, without waring, fly around in a loop, or in many loops, to pursue and catch the fly, then they perch again. They almost always return to the perch in which they had started. Eventually they will fly away. The Eastern Phoebe enjoys flycatching near streams and will almost never stray far from them. They will perch on rocks in a stream if they will not get wet.

They are solitary or in mated pairs.

Comparisons

Eastern Wood Pewee (looks)

The main difference between the Eastern Wood Pewee and the Eastern Pewee is that the Pewee has a gray head rather than a black head.

Eastern Wood Pewee (voice)

The call of the Eastern Wood Pewee is by far the best way to tell them apart, as they can look surprisingly similar and act almost the same. The Pewee makes Pee-a-wee and Pe-eur calls.

Acadian Flycatcher (Voice)

Note that the Phoebe’s call is slightly slower than the Acadian’s and seems to have a short third syllable in the middle, almost like a cropped version of a Pewee call. The Acadian’s is much faster and has two syllables.

Where and When to see them

They are most commonly found in Lubber Run Park, although will be seen frequently at Glencarlyn Park, Glencarlyn Dog Park, and Long Branch Park during spring. Some have attempted nesting in lubber run park, but unfortunately a storm washed away their nest.

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