Is that one of those famous birds? Let’s see: About seven inches long? Check. Gray-brown head and back with white belly? Check. No eye-ring? Check. Fly-catching whiskers? Check. White wing bars? Check. Bobbing tail? Check. Raspy voice that keeps repeating its last name? Check. On or near a man-made structure? Check!!!
Yes, it’s an Eastern Phoebe, one of our earliest spring migrants and one that builds nests in man-made structures as well as in the woods. He or she (only Phoebes can distinguish a perched him from a her) was taking a rest yesterday on the railing of a pier in Great Cove. S/he and her/his mate had just finished inspecting the underside of that structure for a possible nest site. Here’s a silhouette that we created for identification:
Eastern Phoebes are famous for a 19th Century report on their being the first bird species banded in North America. The reporter and bander was an 18-year-old young man in Pennsylvania, but not just any young man. He was none other than the artist-ornithologist John James Audubon performing an experiment in 1804. According to Audubon’s account (which some dispute), he used silver thread to band young Eastern Phoebe nestlings and documented their return to the same area the following year. (Brooklin, Maine)