Eastern Phoebe

First flycatcher of the forest edge...

The two birds perch near the open woodshed, keeping watch on their nest inside. I suspect it already has eggs.

They came home to Iowa in early March, while the trees were bare as bones and the grass was only dreaming of green.

Which is odd, because Eastern Phoebes are flycatchers.

And what insects are flying in Iowa in March?

Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe

Other species of flycatchers don’t arrive until the trees leaf out and the insects they depend on are flitting about.

But Eastern Phoebes don’t have to wait. They can eat small fruits such as juniper berries, rose hips, and last year’s shriveled wild grapes. It’s enough to let them get an early start.

What a phoebe nest needs

Leaves. Fine grasses. Hair.

All held together with mud.

Mud is a fine building material—so long as rain can’t reach it.

For thousands of years, phoebes nested in the dry nooks of cliffs and stream banks.

Eastern Phoebes nest in rock cliffs at Lacey Keosauqua State Park, Iowa.

Tucked into a bank recess, a phoebe nest evades rain and predators.

Then we built bridges, sheds, and porches.

Phoebes noticed.

Now many people host a pair right outside the door.

Baby phoebes in moss-covered nest under the eaves of my house

Stop at a rural bridge in spring. Step out of the car.

You’ll hear it first.

• Pitch goes up: phoe-bee?

• Pitch goes down: phoe-bee!

• Again. Again. Again.

Some notes have an almost purring quality.

Then you find the bird. It’s a plain gray shape, perched low along the stream. Or slipping out from under the bridge to a dangling twig.

Phoebe with tiny food in beak, to deliver to young babies in nest

The nest is harder to spot. It may be tucked up on a beam. Or pressed against the vertical face of a bridge support. Somewhere that rain cannot find it.

How to know the phoebe

A singing male says his own name. Easy.

Females look the same, but they remain silent. So you watch.

• Top of the head slightly darker than the back.

• All-black bill (not two-toned).

• The tail slowly bobs up and down, as if the bird is balancing.

Black-billed, dark-headed, tail-bobbing Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebes don’t merely tolerate us. They use what we build.

And in return, they raise a family where we can watch it happen.

Have you got phoebes nesting near you?

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