Eastern Phoebe

Here's another picture of an Eastern Phoebe, this one from last autumn. They are in the tyrant flycatcher family, so it won't surprise you that small invertebrates are on their menu. Ornithologists generally consider this to be the largest family of birds, though it's possible that the family might get split into smaller families as we learn more.

Here in New Jersey we're basically at the southern edge of the Eastern Phoebe's breeding range; some of them breed well into Canada. And we theoretically don't see them in the winter, probably because of the challenges of finding invertebrates to eat in winter. 

The Eastern Phoebe gets its name from its "fee-bee" call, but not all fee-bees are from phoebes; the Black-capped Chickadee makes a similar sound, though with phoebes the call is shorter than the chickadee one.

These birds are generally loners, coming together to breed but then generally parting ways. Though they'll certainly catch flies, why are these generally peaceful birds in a family called tyrant flycatchers? Apparently this is because of a relative of theirs, the Eastern Kingbird. The Eastern Kingbird is a small bird known for attacking much larger birds, presumably to drive predators and competitors out of their area, and earning the scientific name of Tyrannus tyrannus (basically "tyrant of tyrants"). The family name comes from the Eastern Phoebe's combative/aggressive cousin.

October 15, 2021 at Duke Island Park
Photo 168430108, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Northern Watersnake

Image
This April I went to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge with the hope (among other hopes) of seeing the Northern Watersnakes during mating season. There were 2 problems with this: I think it was slightly late in the season for this. The boardwalk trail where I had seen them in the past was partially closed due to repairs. So although I didn't see any of the 2+ intertwined snakes that I'd seen in the past, but there were still Northern Watersnakes warming themselves in the sun: April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272117862, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And here's another one coming out of the water. April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272119139, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Female Brown-headed Cowbird

Image
Like quite a few birds, this bird is easier to identify when spotted with her significant other ; she's a Brown-headed Cowbird . Due to their tendency to be monogamous plus plain old birds-of-a-feather behavior, I usually see them with prominently brown-headed males around, greatly improving my confidence in IDing them. My understanding is that Brown-headed Cowbirds are the only obligate brood parasites in my area. Obligate brood parasites have essentially lost all their parenting skills, and thus if they were ever unable to fool other birds into raising their young, they would (almost certainly) go extinct [1]. There are, however, other brood parasites in New Jersey. These are called facultative brood parasites, and these birds will usually raise their own offspring, but will also engage in brood parasitism. (Exactly when birds perform facultative brood parasitism seems variable; one source said it occurred when resources were scarce while another said it occurred when resource
Read more

Rooftop Turkey Vultures

Image
I met these Turkey Vultures by just walking out of my apartment. (I theoretically could have gotten a picture without going outside, but that extra layer of glass can degrade picture quality a little.) Although they don't show up on these rooftops daily, they're not an uncommon visitor to my apartment complex. Similar to this spot of the woods , I wouldn't expect this to be a great place to find carcasses. I'm thinking they're here mostly because: They don't have to worry much about predators up there. They get a pretty good view of the area in case something should happen to succumb. (This apartment was near the top of a hill, providing a better view than most of the other apartments.) Since this picture was from February, it's probably a slightly warmer spot, especially near those furnace vent pipes. Although these are Turkey Vultures, it's also not unusual to see Black Vultures up there too. February 28, 2023 at Finderne Photo 264703396, (c) jpviole
Read more