Eastern Phoebe

Having moved into this house last year, we noticed two previous nests lodged on a ledge beneath a tree-house in the yard. This year we found that the Eastern Phoebe were the builders as they have constructed an identical nest and already fledged four chicks.

As of today, 12 June, the female is again laying a second clutch and there are another four eggs in the nest.

There is no shortage of winged insects about as I have deliberately let part of the lawn grow long grass this year, which is bursting with seed now but even without the grass, as previously reported, it's delightful to watch the birds sitting aloft and swooping down to snip an insect about ten feet away.

We have just seen this bird for the first time for the last few days, we initially had a hard time finding out what it was, it looks just like a king fisher, except it is brown and white instead of greyish blue and white. They seem to be a very nice bird, that is very intelligent and curious and non-frightened of people, we usually see the same female this week, that sits on a tall wooden stake and watches us attentively when we do yard work.

Husband and I are in love with this bird. This is the second year in a row she has returned to make her nest under our portico. She laid 5 beautiful white eggs this week. We are worried that so many babies won't fit in her small nest. We bought a cat bed (ironic, yes) and put it under the nest to catch any babies who would otherwise fall to the concrete below.

We enjoy watching the phoebes "hawk" for insects. They love perching on dead branches. They enjoy eating wasps, beetles, flies and cicadas. That works out great for us. They also eat spiders and ticks. Have at 'em! : )

Our phoebe's nest is a thing of absolute beauty. It looks like it should be on the cover of a Pottery Barn catalogue. It is about 10 inches high in total with gorgeous green m... read moreoss on the top making up the cup. This flows to a brown decorative part underneath made up of dried grasses weaved with coconut strings borrowed from the coconut liners of our hanging baskets.

Phoebes are one of the earliest returning migrants in the Spring and one of the last to leave in the Fall. Last Fall, I literally saw our phoebe flying up to check out her nest before she left. We left everything the way she had it and didn't touch the nest. In the Spring, she came back, spruced it up and re-used the same nest.

The sad part is that once the babies are raised, they are out of there. We still see them in the trees but we don't have the daily excitement of seeing them in the nest.