Going Out

by Ed Wesely

Early Birds

	TRR photo by Ed Wesely A phoebe nest with fledgling birds reaps good shelter under a roof at Eve Skier’s home in Honesdale, PA. Four young birds, three hidden from view, flew off when I snapped the picture on June 8. (Click for larger image)

The phoebe is a grey, sparrow-sized bird, best known for a habit of wagging its tail while perched on branches and tall grass stems. If we watch awhile, we’ll see the phoebe sally to catch an insect with a short flight that may bring it back to the same perch.

The birds are also harbingers of spring. Because they over-winter in the American south, some as close by as southern Virginia, phoebes return quite early to the Upper Delaware region. I look for them in March, and have seen them in late February if the winter is mild.

No sooner have phoebes arrived than we hear the oft-repeated songs of male birds; an insistent “phee-bee” or “phree-bree” is sung from prominent perches as territories are established. I suspect the name was adopted by early naturalists because of the syllables of the call, which may accent the first note or the second at a singer’s whim.

Phoebes are opportunistic nest builders and aren’t shy about using human structures as foundations. In pre-Columbian days they probably nested along cliffs or steep banks, but the industrial age finds them building beneath bridges, culverts, or wherever an appealing beam or wall provides a proper foundation.

For many years Eve Skier, a friend in Honesdale, has enjoyed phoebes that nest near her busy tennis court—always on the same beam, in the same corner, under the roof of a small outdoor building. This spring the phoebes were late, but by early May they had established a nest that held four eggs.

It isn’t uncommon to find the parent birds perched on Eve’s tennis net as they shuttle back and forth to provide insect for the nestlings. The four that hatched under Eve’s roof around May 25 were immobile, naked with closed eyes, yet within 15 days they were zooming across the tennis court.

A second nest was added this spring by the parent birds. The unfinished one lies just to the right of the big one in my picture, where the juvenile phoebe perches. “Lack of orientation may cause a female to build many nests side by side on a long beam or girder,” explained a student of phoebe nests.

Mud, weeds, grasses and fibers (including man-made ones) are employed as foundation materials, but I’ve never observed a phoebe nest without moss woven into its outer layer. Had it been affixed to a bridge girder, this one would have been abbreviated into a semi-circular shape.

Visit riverreporter.com to see the vibrant photo of phoebes in full color.