Eastern Phoebe
01-21-2015 UPDATE: A Magic Moment in my Garden . . . One of the delights of winter in my Quail Valley enclosed garden is the intermingling of Winter and Nesting birds . . . especially the smaller birds. Carolina Wren males, which are a nesting bird here, show off their "Real Estate" to a female who select him as a partner if she likes what she sees. She then selects the nesting site and the work begins. On my fence this morning a male was strutting his stuff to potential suitor . . . and she like what she saw. As the female was exploring 4 potential nesting sites she would consider (yes, he is probably considered at least a millionaire in the bird world), our Bird of the Month, the Eastern Phoebe (2 different ones), showed up, followed by a flock of Carolina Chickadees a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and a Tufted Titmouse on the multiple feeders. Alas, no camera with me, much less Margaret and her photographic magic. I just stood still and savored the moment for about 10 minutes. Janice
Bird of the Month: The first bird John J. Audubon banded in North America, the Eastern Phoebe is a prominent winter bird for our feeders, although they live in Fort Bend year round. You're more likely to find them breeding closer to the Coast, but near water. Being primarily insect eaters, Eastern Phoebes come for suet and will eat fruit as well in the winter under 60 F. This hardy flycatcher winters further north than most flycatchers. A subtle bird that can be easy to miss in the garden because they move fast and "pump" or wag their long wedged tails. Velvety gray on lighter gray with a pale yellow rump, which is often the tell-tale sign as they fly away. In our gardens you will see them in shrubbery and perched in low trees or on suet feeders.
Winter Migrant Birds We've Seen This Month
Ruby Crowned Kinglet Suet Feeder, in small trees and shrubs
Blue-Gray Gnatcahtcher " " "
American Goldfinches Colony of 8 or 9 on Feeder, fence and trees
Gray Catbird Heard meowning in live oak, but didn't see
Bald Eagle Open Space, Hunting
Scroll down to November 2014 post for more on other birds in our late fall/ winter gardens.
Winter Migrant Birds We're Watching to See:
American Whitle Pelican Lakes
Belted Kingfisher Oyster Creek - High Lines
American Kestrel " "
Brown Thrasher Brush Piles
Cedar Waxwings Flocks in smaller berry trees and berry bushes
Foster's Tern Lakes
Winter Hummingbirds Feeders
Rufous, Allen's, Black-chinned, Calliope
Sparrows Grasslands grown over 9 inches
White-Crowned, Chipping,Field, Vesper, Savannah, LeConte's,Lincoln's
Warblers Suet Feeders, Shrubs, smaller trees
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Butter Butts)
Orange-crowned Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
To see more Eastern Phoebe pictures by Margaret, press here
Scroll below to see more year round birds as well as winter visitors to our gardens.
Photos copyrighted by international birder Margaret Sloan.
See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 150+ bird species just in her suburban Fort Bend,Texas backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.
Researched and Edited by Janice Scanlan.