| Eastern Phoebe
catches flies By Jay V. Huner |
 Vermilion Flycatcher |
 Eastern Phoebe, photographed by Jimn Johnson, Lecompte, LA www.jimjohnsonp |
| Hunters waiting for deer,
wild hogs or squirrels can't help but watch and listen to
the birds around them in the Piney Woods. One of the most
conspicuous winter birds is the Eastern Phoebe. This bird
is normally a plain olive brown color above and whitish
below, sometimes with a yellowish wash on its flanks.
What makes it so obvious is its habit of perching on the
end of a branch or snag and darting out to catch flying
insects - fly catching! This common winter flycatcher
does not rely solely on insects for food because they are
hard to find in cold weather. During the coldest periods,
they eat fat-rich berries. Eastern Phoebes arrive throughout the piney woods in early October and remain into early April. Some set up house keeping and build nests north of the I-20 corridor across the South. They readily build nests under the eaves of buildings or bridges so man has provided them with lots of nesting habitat. Phoebe is pronounced "fee bee". And, surprise, the bird's song is just that--fee bee. It calls its name. The Eastern Phoebe has a very distinct, sharp chip note that, often as not, draws an observer's attention before seeing it engaged in its signature fly catching act. But, be advised that Carolina Chickadees do make a similar "fee bee" call but are no more than two-thirds the size of the 7-8 inch and a lot more vocal. Eastern Phoebes often return to the same nesting site year after year. In fact, when John James Audubon was a young man living in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s, he became fascinated by a pair of phoebes that was nesting in a cave on his farm. He tied thin silver wire around their legs, one of the first acts of banding birds ever recorded, and found that these banded birds returned to the site in the spring after migrating south for the winter. The Eastern Phoebe has a reasonably close relative that occasionally shows up in the winter in our piney woods. Male Vermilion Flycatchers are smaller but impossible to miss and confuse with its drab cousin. The top of the head and the under parts are a brilliant vermilion. The back, wings, and tail are black and there is a black line through the eye. Females and first fall males are much drabber being brownish above and white with a pinkish wash below. However, all Vermilion Flycatchers engage in very conspicuous fly catching behavior. Vermilion Flycatchers are rare winter visitors in the piney woods moving northeast from their breeding grounds in Mexico and the southwestern USA. Some might confuse male Vermilion Flycatchers with male Northern Cardinals but cardinals are much larger and simply do not fly catch. Look for them around small pools and ponds perching on snags and leafless willow trees. \par Enjoy our winter flycatchers. They help to liven up the dreary days of winter with their fly catching antics and, in the case of male Vermilion Flycatchers, add brilliant color. Thought you saw an Eastern Phoebe in your pines last summer? Nope, it was surely an Eastern Wood-Pewee but that interesting bird and its cousin the Eastern Kingbird are our summer flycatchers. So, they will be topics of future reports. Jay V. Huner |
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