Eastern Phoebe- a First-time Backyard Visitor

There was finally a break in the weather yesterday so I decided to make a quick birding trip to nearby Stiles and Hart Conservation Park. According to the park profile it's "A Bird Watchers Paradise—A Nature Lovers get away right downtown." Despite having high hopes for my third trip to Stiles and Hart, I walked away without any good pictures. Sightings included the usual suspects-- blue jays, chickadees, titmice, downy woodpeckers, a flicker, among others.

Surprisingly, the best pics of the day came from my very own backyard. I have a suet basket, along with two birdfeeders set up, and noticed this Eastern Phoebe earlier in the day and was able to catch it on a return trip later in the day.

Comments

dguzman said…

Did you happen to get the ABA Birding magazine this past issue? It's got a neat piece on how to tell Eastern from Western Phoebes. Of course, a Western over here would be cool--but apparently, it happens sometimes.

October 8, 2008 at 1:39:00 PM PDT

Larry said…

That must have been fun.-I've never had a phoebe in my backyard.-Nice photo too!

October 15, 2008 at 3:57:00 PM PDT

Cathleen Voss said…

@dguzman: That's interesting about the phoebes. No, I don't get that magazine, but I'll start dropping hints- Christmas is coming up :)

@Larry: Yes- our backyard is great for bird-watching because there are so many places for them to hide. The yard has a natural fence of evergreens and maples, then the border with the woods offers lots of low brush with fruit, which is what attracted the juncos today.

November 8, 2008 at 10:29:00 AM PST

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