Educate Yourself About the Eastern Phoebe and Other Phoebes

Eastern Phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe has a large dark head, gray-brown body, with no eye rings, no wing bars, and a dark long wagging tail. Its length is 6-7in (16-18cm) Its wingspan is 10in (25cm) Its voice is the song of a burry, well-enunciated phoebe or “fi-bree”, the call is a sharp “chip”. Their eggs are white with sparse red-brown spots; they have 2 clutches of 4-5 or (3-8) eggs. The female incubates for 16 days, and fledging time for 15-16 days. Both male and female feed their young. Males and females look alike.

Eastern Phoebes unmistakable call “fee-bee, fee-bee, fee-bee”, and when you hear their call, you know that spring is here. They migrate from their northern habitats in winter, and typically spend their wintering in the southern states, witch might explain why; they are the first ones to come back for spring.

The Eastern Phoebe once used to nest mainly along stream-bank cliffs, and overhangs, but now days; they have adapted to occupy porches, eaves, and rafters of houses, barns, and sheds. Interesting enough, some will build their nest next to a doorway witch is in regular use, to demonstrate their tolerance of humans.

The substantial nest is built from pellets of mud, mixed with grass, and the outer covering is made of moss, and lined with fine grass and animal hair. Unfortunately, Brown-headed Cowbirds will often parasitize the phoebe’s nest, and the phoebe will abandon the nest if the cowbird lays its egg first. Sometimes the phoebe will add onto a Barn Swallows old nest, or renovate others ones, but birds that build new nests, will usually have smaller clutches, then birds that take over old ones,

The Eastern Phoebe’s has a western cousin, the Black Phoebe that lives in California and the southwestern states, and like the Eastern Phoebe, they perform the distinctive upright posture, and tail-wagging behavior.

If you like to attract Eastern Phoebes, plant sumac and bayberries for winter food, and for summer foods, plant fruit bearing bushes, such as elderberries, blueberries, hackberries, and blackberries. To create more nesting opportunities in your lovely bird feeding garden, provide a nesting shelf, and secure it under eaves or similar overhangs.