Phoebe and Wood-Pewee

Eastern Phoebe

Be on the watch for two insect-eating birds. They won't be seen in our area for very much longer because the summer is almost over.

One of the most familiar eastern fly-catchers is the Eastern Phoebe. You may hear its raspy "phoebe" during the spring and summer around yards and farms. These hardy brown and white birds sit upright and wag their tails from prominent low perches.

The olive-brown Eastern Wood-Pewee is a small inconspicuous fly-catcher that perches on dead branches in the mid-canopy. Its unmistakable call—pee-a-wee-!—is a characteristic sound heard in summer.

The Eastern Phoebe is a plump bird with a medium length tail. The head seems large for a bird of this size. Like most fly-catchers, it has a short, thin bill for catching insects. These birds favor woodlands, yards, parks and woodland edges. Eastern Phoebes winter farther north than other insect-eaters and are one of the earliest returning migrants in spring. According to Birds of the Lehigh Valley and Vicinity, they are seen from April through September.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

The use of buildings and bridges for nest sites has allowed the Eastern Phoebe to tolerate habitat changes. They may reuse nests from year to year.

Male phoebes do not share incubation or feeding of the young, and females often chase them away.

The sides of the breast of the Eastern Wood-Pewee are dark with an off-white throat and belly, giving it a vested appearance. It has short legs, upright posture, long wings with white bars, and a peaked crown.

Eastern Wood-Pewees are found in clearings and forest edges. They prefer deciduous forests but also live in mixed hardwood-conifer forests of the north.

"Pewees" are in our area only from May through August. They migrate to South America to winter.

Eastern Wood-Pewees appear to be monogamous; the male will bring food to the female during incubation.

Both species capture small flying insects. They sally out from a branch to catch their prey, often returning to the same or nearby perch. They may also glean insects from foliage or the ground. Their diet consists of flies, bugs, moths, butterflies, bees, wasps, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, ticks and millipedes. They may also eat small fruit or seeds.

We've seen the Eastern Phoebe at the Monocacy Nature Center and Trexler Nature Preserve, and the Eastern Wood-Pewee at Nisky Hill Cemetery.

Within the past week, birdwatchers have reported both species at Allentown's Lehigh Parkway East, Leaser Lake and the Freemansburg Towpath. Eastern Phoebes have been seen at Wayne Grube Memorial Park and in Haafsville. Eastern Wood-Pewees have been reported at Martins Creek Environmental Preserve, Monocacy Nature Center, State Game Lands 205 (Lehigh County) and Walking Purchase Park.