- Animals
- Reference
Black Phoebe
- Common Name:
- Black Phoebe
- Scientific Name:
- Sayornis nigricans
- Type:
- Birds
- Size:
- Length: 4.5 inches
- IUCN Red List Status:
- Least concern
- Current Population Trend:
- Increasing
A distinctive black-and-white phoebe of the southwest, the black phoebe is almost always found near water. Polytypic (5 ssp.). Length 4.5".
Identification
Black head, upperparts, breast; contrasting white belly, undertail coverts. Juvenile: plumage briefly held; similar to adult’s, but browner, with 2 cinnamon wing bars, cinnamon tips to the feathers on the upperparts.
Geographic Variation
North American semiatra (south to western Mexico) has duller and duskier head; birds south of Isthmus of Panama have extensive white in wings.
Similar Species
Distinctive. Has hybridized with the eastern phoebe (Colorado); offspring appear intermediate.
Voice
Call: includes a loud tseew and a sharp tsip, similar to the eastern phoebe’s but sounding more plaintive and whistled. Song: thin whistled song consists of 2 different 2-syllable phrases: a rising sa-wee followed by a falling sa-sew; usually strung together one after the other.
Status and Distribution
Uncommon to common. Breeding: woodlands, parks, suburbs; almost always near water. Migration: resident over much of range. Breeders return to Colorado late March–mid-April; depart early September. Fall migrants detected on Farallon Islands (California) early September–late November Vagrant: casually appears north and east to northern Oregon, Washington, Idaho, northern and eastern Utah, northern Arizona, central Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Accidental to Florida, southwestern British Columbia, and south-central Alaska.
Population
Increasing, with range slowly spreading north.