Eastern Phoebe

Here's another Eastern Phoebe, one of our most commonly seen tyrant flycatchers. I've talked about these birds before but will try and augment that with information from What It's Like to Be a Bird (Sibley).

These birds are tail-pumpers; you'll sometimes see them pumping their tail up and down. This is the way that phoebes tell predators "I see you. You're not sneaking up on me, and trying to attack me is just going to waste both our time/resources." (This does suggest that if you see the tail pumping, the bird's interpreting you as a predator.)

Phoebes like to build nests in niches, under overhangs, and protected ledges. They are also one of the relatively few birds that reuse their nests in the same season. Most birds don't reuse nests in this way because parasites can accumulate there, but because phoebes are fairly particular about what they consider to be a good nesting location, they're probably forced to reuse nests in those good locations.

Many birds will swallow small pebbles or stones to help grind up food in their gizzards. Bird gizzards do some of the work that our teeth (especially molars) do. Phoebes generally don't need to do this, instead relying on the hard shells of some of their insect prey to do the grinding that pebbles do in other birds.

September 21, 2022 at John Clyde Native Grassland Preserve
Photo 248765787, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)