Friday’s Feathered Friends-Eastern Phoebe

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Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

With this sighting of the Eastern Phoebe on May 13th while birding in Ohio I have now seen all 3 Phoebe’s that reside in the Unites States.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com Image

The Eastern Phoebe can be found throughout the eastern half of the continent from the Northwest Territories all the way down to Mexico.

The other two Phoebes are found in the Western regions of North America. They are the Say’s Phoebe, and the Black Phoebe.

Fun Facts:

  • 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.
  • The use of buildings and bridges for nest sites has allowed the Eastern Phoebe to tolerate the landscape changes made by humans and even expand its range. However, it still uses natural nest sites when they are available.
  • Unlike most birds, Eastern Phoebes often reuse nests in subsequent years—and sometimes Barn Swallows use them in between. In turn, Eastern Phoebes may renovate and use old American Robin or Barn Swallow nests themselves.
  • The Eastern Phoebe is a loner, rarely coming in contact with other phoebes. Even members of a mated pair do not spend much time together. They may roost together early in pair formation, but even during egg laying the female frequently chases the male away from her.
  • The oldest known Eastern Phoebe was at least 10 years, 4 months old. It had been banded in Iowa in 1979 and was found in 1989 in Alberta.
  • Fun facts gleaned as always from allaboutbirds.org

I hope you all have a lovely week-end!

more to come…

43 thoughts on “Friday’s Feathered Friends-Eastern Phoebe”

    1. Thank you for stopping by! I think it’s neat that you get to see these often in SE FL! I learned a lot as well. 😊 It cool learning they were the first bird banded in North America by Audubon in 1804. Humans have been tracking birds a long time haven’t they?

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    1. I was studying the Warblers before I left so would know what to look for, but thankfully there were so many people there birding them that already knew and were familiar with them so they would point and call out the type which was so helpful to me a western gal. The others like the Eastern Phoebe I knew only that it was a flycatcher of some sort by it’s bill, size and shape. So I identified it at home with my bird book and Merlin app. If I reported anything incorrectly I will eventually hear from the eBird moderator who tell me what I got wrong and what it is and be instructed to change my report to show the correct bird. So far I’ve not heard anything so I’m hoping I got the ID’s correct. 😊

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      1. Good to know, I have an app on my phone, I think it’s All About Birds, that can identify the sound of a bird but the bird is usually long gone by the time I locate my app! Lol! I think it is super neat that you can identify so many birds!

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  7. Your photo of the Eastern Phoebe is beautiful, Deborah! I love to learn the fun fact about these birds. When I had mourning doves in my backyard, I noticed one dove was banded. I saw the same the next year, not sure if it was the same dove of a different dove got banded.

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    1. Thank you so much, Miriam! How cool! If the Dove returns get your long lens out and try to get a good image of the band and one of the bird. If you can see the bird number or ID numbers on the band you can report you banded bird to American Racing Pigeon Union.

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  8. A nice photo and the facts were fun. I hadn’t thought about it, but the nesting info in the 2nd bullet makes so much sense and that was my favorite fun fact.

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  9. I really enjoy the fun facts and even though I cannot actually go birding (maybe some year) – I feel like I can “bird along” with you and learn from your posts – 🙂 – also – the colors of this Eastern Phoebe has those cool teals and silver green – and it is one of my favorite palates

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  15. “The Eastern Phoebe is a loner, rarely coming in contact with other phoebes. Even members of a mated pair do not spend much time together. They may roost together early in pair formation, but even during egg laying the female frequently chases the male away from her.”

    Any idea why that is?

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  17. Their song truly does sound like ‘phee-bee.’ The fact that the oldest was banded in Iowa made me smile, although not for a birdy reason. When I was in high school in Iowa, my Latin teacher (yes, we were required to take Latin as well as one other foreign language) was named Phoebe Wilcox — and she was a little bird of a woman.

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