Black Phoebe
Sayornis nigricans
Order  Passeriformes

Family  Tyrannidae

 Alpha Code:  BLPH                       AOU#:  458.0

Band Size:  1
     Black Phoebes are easily recognized birds with their black head, upperparts, breast and sides contrasting with the white belly and undertail covs.  Then, they sit conspicuously on exposed branches or fence posts pumping their tails and "flycatching" like they are suppose to do.  In fact, they are great birds for beginning field biology students to watch and make behavioral observations. 

     They are medium sized flycatchers, smaller than kingbirds and the Myiarchus flycatchers (e.g. Ash-throated) but larger than the Empidonax.

Bird Banding: Black Phoebes are not particularly common (though see natural history notes below), but they are conspicuous, as we regularly see them in the nearby fields at Zuma Canyon.  We have encountered 65 birds from 1995-2001. 

     The species is monomorphic.  Sexing can be done by CP/BP, although Pyle indicates the CP may be poorly developed.  HY/SY birds can be aged fairly easily.  The feathers of the upperparts are cinnamon tipped, as are the wing bars.  Since the adult pre-basic does not complete until June, one can age SY birds well into the second year.

Natural History Notes:  Maybe it is because I am more aware of birds when I became a bird bander, but there seems to be more BLPHs around than ever before.

    Naturalists have always noted that phoebes like to perch along the edges of open spaces from which they flycatch for insects.  Since one of ecology's great axioms is that no two species occupies the same ecological niche," we find Black Phoebes in moister habitats and Say's Phoebe in dryer habitats.  Yet each winter we usually see both phoebes over the same line of fence posts in Zuma Canyon.

    Once I even had the pleasure of see all three American phoebes (Say's, Black, and Eastern) perching along the edge of the same field catching insects.

The picture is slightly out of focus, but the extent of the cinnamon edging is well illustrated.

When the wings are closed, the cinnamon edging shows up as wing bars.