The eastern phoebe (''Sayornis phoebe'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

. The genus name ''Sayornis'' is constructed from the specific part of Charles Lucien Bonaparte's name for Say's phoebe, ''Muscicapa saya'', and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''ornis'', "bird". ''Phoebe'' is an alternative name for the Roman moon-goddess Diana, but it may also have been chosen to imitate the bird's call.

Description

Measurements: * Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm) * Weight: 0.6-0.7 oz (16-21 g) * Wingspan: 10.2-11.0 in (26-28 cm) This species appears remarkably big-headed, especially if it puffs up the small

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

. Its plumage is gray-brown above. It has a white throat, dirty gray breast and buffish underparts which become whiter during the breeding season. Two indistinct buff bars are present on each wing. Its lack of an eye ring and wingbars, and its all dark bill distinguish it from other North American tyrant flycatchers, and it pumps its tail up and down like other phoebes when perching on a branch. The eastern phoebe's call is a sharp ''chip'', and the song, from which it gets its name, is ''fee-bee''. The

eastern wood pewee The eastern wood pewee (''Contopus virens'') is a small tyrant flycatcher from North America. This bird and the western wood pewee (''C. sordidulus'') were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appeara ...

(''Contopus virens'') is extremely similar in appearance. It lacks the buff hue usually present on the lighter parts of the eastern phoebe's plumage, and thus has always clearly defined and contrasting wing-bars. It also does not bob its tail habitually, and appears on the breeding grounds much later though it leaves for winter quarters at about the same time as the eastern phoebe. It often nests on human structures such as bridges and buildings. Nesting activity may start as early as the first days of April. The nest is an open

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

with a mud base and lined with moss and grass, built in crevice in a rock or man-made site; two to six

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid. Both parents feed the young and usually raise two broods per year. The eastern phoebe is occasionally host to the nest-parasitic

brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...

(''Molothrus ater'').

Eastern phoebe habitat

Eastern phoebes are highly adaptable to urban environments, primarily found in wooded areas particularly streamsides, and farms areas which provide ideal habitat for these birds. Eastern phoebes tend to avoid open areas and choose spots beneath trees, brushy areas, overhangs, etc. However, during migration in winters or in breeding season they are frequently seen around edges of woods, brushy areas where water sources present abundantly.

Breeding

This

tyrant flycatcher The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds known to exist in the world, with more than 400 species. They are the most dive ...

breeds in eastern North America, although its normal range does not include the southeastern coastal United States. The breeding

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of the eastern phoebe is open woodland, farmland and suburbs, often near water. This phoebe is insectivorous, and often perches conspicuously when seeking food items. It also eats

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s and

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...

in cooler weather.

Migration

It is migratory, wintering in the southernmost United States and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. It is a very rare

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

to western

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. This is one of the first birds to return to the breeding grounds in spring and one of the last to leave in the fall. They arrive for breeding in mid-late March, but they return to winter quarters around the same time when other migrant songbirds do, in September and early October; migration times have stayed the same in the last 100 years. The increase in trees throughout the Great Plains during the past century due to fire suppression and tree planting facilitated a western range expansion of the eastern phoebe as well as range expansions of many other species of birds.

In literature

Phoebes appear in the poem " The Need of being Versed in Country Things", published in 1923 by Robert Frost. The poem describes phoebes nesting inside a barn on a farm abandoned after the farmhouse burned to the ground. The poem ends "One had to be versed in country things/Not to believe the phoebes wept." They also appear in the

Mary Oliver Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary ...

poem “The Messenger.”

Photo gallery

File:Sayornis phoebe -Madison, Wisconsin, USA-8.jpg, In Wisconsin File:Sayornis phoebe CT3 crop.jpg, Taken at

Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area The Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area is a National Wildlife Area (NWA) located on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the National Provincial Capital Region of Quebec, established on 28 April 1978. It is one of the critical habit ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

File:Sayornis phoebe.ogv, At Ripon, Quebec File:Eastern Phoebe-nest-Brown-headed-Cowbird-egg.jpg, Nest with one

egg File:PhoebeNest.jpg, Immature birds in a nest, Norman, Oklahoma File:Phoebe, Eastern-Fledgeling.jpg, Older fledglings in nest File:Eastern Phoebe1.jpg, Front view File:Phoebe's Food.jpg, Phoebe eating various invertebrates File:Phoebe eating a wasp-mimicking syrphid fly.jpg, Phoebe eating a wasp

References

External links

Eastern phoebe – ''Sayornis phoebe''
– USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter

– Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Audio of eastern phoebe song (AU-format)
- Songs and calls of some New York State birds * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q748192 eastern phoebe Birds of North America Native birds of the Eastern United States Least concern biota of the United States eastern phoebe eastern phoebe Articles containing video clips