Eastern Phoebe With Lunch

Here's what I believe to be an Eastern Phoebe eating lunch. (Some of the other tyrant flycatchers can look pretty similar.) I've certainly talked about Eastern Phoebes before (if you're looking for a phoebe phactoids).

As flycatchers, these birds certainly have flying insects on their menu. My impression is that they're perfectly happy to eat spiders, ticks, and terrestrial insects too, though their hunting strategy generally focuses on flying insects. I'm suspicious that this little fella had some sort of wasp in its beak. (Presumably they take extra care when preying on stinging insects.)

June 8, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 209835325, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

June 8, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 209835352, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


Comments

  1. sillig1July 13, 2022 at 1:16 PM

    Great photos. Beautiful little bird. Can't really tell size from the photo, but looks tiny. Smaller than a sparrow?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jpvioletteAugust 20, 2022 at 11:09 AM

      I generally think of them as larger than most of our sparrows, but consulting my Sibley field guide that's a little misleading. Compared to 2 very common sparrows, the House Sparrow and the Song Sparrow, the Eastern Phoebe is both longer and has a wider wingspan. But the Song Sparrow weighs the same as the Eastern Phoebe, and the House Sparrow actually outweighs the phoebe.

      So overall I guess you could say they're pretty comparable to the sparrows size-wise.

      Delete

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