Fee-Bree

Early in the morning I could hear the call fee-bree, fee-bree. I searched and searched but could not find the bird anywhere, and then the call rang out from the other side of the clearing. Had the bird flown right past me without me seeing it? The call came again, slightly to the east from where I was first searching. Turning my head, I spotted movement and was nearly certain I had spotted the first phoebe of the year. The return of the Eastern Phoebe is one of the things that tell me spring is really on its way. Again the call came from the other side of the clearing; there were two birds - great view of one on the power line just next to the deck.

This afternoon, I heard the calls again but couldn’t find the birds until I spotted one on a bare branch of a Chestnut Oak – he gave his location away by slowly and incessantly wagging his tail.

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
Tyrant Flycatcher Family

The favorite perch of the Phoebes is our phone and power lines. They will swoop off the lines, catch a moth or bug in mid-flight, execute a smooth u-turn and return to their perch to finish their meal. The lines stretch out over clear areas, which seem to attract a lot of insects. The plantings below the power lines also attract numerous bees and wasps, which are a good part of the phoebe’s diet.

Fascinating fact: In 1804, the Eastern Phoebe became the first banded bird in North America. John James Audubon attached silvered thread to an Eastern Phoebe's leg to track its return in successive years
Eastern Phoebes are medium-sized flycatchers. They are brownish gray above, darkest on the wings, tail, and head, and have dark bills. Underparts are whitish with an olive wash on the breast and flanks. They lack the eye rings and wing bars of the Empidonax flycatchers; they are similar in appearance to Eastern Wood Pewees (Contopus virens), but they lack wing bars and orangish lower mandible