Randy,

I love the Eastern Phoebes too, and sometimes they will overwinter (only about one year in three or four) here, although I haven't seen any around lately, so guess they are not overwintering here this year.

I do think they are known to overwinter sometimes in southeastern Oklahoma....and, technically, I suppose I am in south-central Oklahoma since I am west of I-35. Even when they don't overwinter, I think they must not migrate too far away from us, because they are always among the last to leave in late fall and the first to reappear in late winter to early spring.

Your Eastern Phoebes seem more sociable than ours (which tend to be solitary....almost loners), although one did nest in the barn this past spring (maybe to get out of the never-ending rain).

Dawn

I think the parents have become very tame over the years here and are very used to me being in close proximity. The male is especially tame.

The male staying over in an immature bird and probably didn't get the email with the fight path info. His song is interrupted on occasion with the young birds cheep cheep call wanting his parents or siblings.

When I'm out away from the house, he is the only Phoebe I here. But they may be more spread out now because of the amount of insects needed to get them through the winter.

My neighbors had Phoebes nest on their front porch this year. So our pair is slowly colonizing the area.

randy

Hadn't seen the Phoebe since the ice storm and figured he got smart and went south or was dead. Showed up this morning on the back porch on his favorite perch singing away at daylight.

Wonder what on earth he is eating? When insects are moving around during warm spells I've seen him feeding. What does he do when it stays below freezing for days at a time?

Do they adapt to seed eating or just go without? I've got a number of sunflower patches along the borders of the property for the wildlife.

randy

Randy,

The ones that overwinter here (some years) never seem to come to the birdfeeders, so I don't think they eat birdseed. However, I often see them in the possumhaw hollies so I think they might survive partially on possumhaw berries (and other types of berries as well).

Also, we do have some insects active here even in the winter months....small bees, flies, ground beetles, etc. and I know the phoebes eat them when they can catch them. Since you are significantly further north than we are, I don't know how many bugs are available to your phoebes in the winter months, though. We live in horse and cattle country, so there are usually plenty of flies year round, at least around the stock barns!

One winter, we had overwintering phoebes and a pretty severe ice and snow storm, so I thawed out some frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries) and put them outside on the ground in an area of the yard where I often saw the phoebes.....underneath a clump of possumhaw hollies. The phoebes and other birds devoured those berries that day.

Sometimes I see the phoebes sitting on the garden fence and spending quite a bit of time in the veggie garden, so I think they might be looking for insects that might be overwintering in garden debris or mulch. They also hang out around the compost pile a lot.

I'm not sure what your phoebes are eating routinely in good weather, but think that in the bad weather, they tend to eat whatever they can find.

The bug-eating birds that overwinter here seem to get pretty hungry during prolonged periods of cold, but the bugs reappear on warmer days and the birds really feast then.

Dawn

I have two large thornless hollies with very small fruit. Wonder if that's what's tiding him over when the insects hunker down. He was busy getting his fill of insects yesterday.

randy