Eastern Phoebe

Look for

A dull gray-brown flycatcher with a slightly darker head, pale belly, no eye-ring, and — the best field mark — constant tail-wagging. They pump their tail up-and-down almost continuously when perched.

Size: ~7" — between a sparrow and a robin.

Listen for

• Song: a raspy, burry "FEE-bee!" (or "fee-BEE!") — it says its name, slightly different each repetition, sometimes alternating "fee-beer" and "fee-bee." Ungraceful and charming.
• Call: a sharp "chip."

Where in Memphis

Near water and structures. Phoebes love:

• Bridges, barns, porches, old buildings, eaves — for nest sites
• Streams, ponds, river edges — for hunting
• Wolf River, Shelby Farms, Meeman-Shelby waterways

Year-round in Memphis (at the northern edge of winter range) though some move south in harsh cold snaps.

Behavior

• Flycatcher behavior: perches on low branches, sallies out to catch flies/moths/wasps in mid-air, returns to the same perch.
• Mud-nest builders. Construct cup nests of mud, moss, and grass — often glued to bridge beams or barn rafters. Same site used year after year for decades.
• Tail-pump is constant.

Story

The first North American bird banded

In 1804, John James Audubon tied silver threads around the legs of nesting Eastern Phoebes at his Pennsylvania farm — and confirmed they returned to the same nest the next year. This was the first recorded bird-banding experiment in North America, establishing that songbirds have nest-site fidelity.

Audubon wrote about "my friends, the Pewees" — that's these birds.

"Bridge bird"

Memphis-area phoebes nest on underside of bridges so reliably that some birders call them "bridge birds." The Big River Crossing, Wolf River crossings, and rural highway bridges across West Tennessee host dozens of pairs each summer.

They're almost always singing

If you hear a burry, repeated "fee-bee" from March through October near any Memphis water feature, it's an Eastern Phoebe. They're one of the first spring singers and last fall singers.

Fun facts

• They're in the tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae) — the largest bird family in the Americas, ~400 species.
• They eat small fish occasionally, snatching them from shallow water.
• Oldest known wild Eastern Phoebe: 10+ years.
• Their scientific genus Sayornis honors Thomas Say, early American naturalist.