Say's Phoebe

Latin name:  Sayornis saya
Spanish common name:  Mosquero Llanero

4/13/11

This is our very own personal phoebe.  She works the back garden to the south of the grill area, keeping it as free of insects as possible.  She likes to perch on a low bush and fly up and out to catch her prey.  I love to watch her work.

She decided she liked the area well enough to make it her home as well as her work place.  She likes us ok, too, but not well enough to pose for pictures while sitting on her nest.  If you get close enough to take a half-way decent picture, she flies away.  However, if you stay well away, get down on your belly, and aim the camera very slowly, she will allow a couple of shots.

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6/26/11

Just as lovely and hardworking as ever.

 

6/28/11

I thought I should look in Phoebe's hiding spot to see if the eggs had hatched.  All I could see was one little head which I wouldn't have recognized out of the context of the nest.  And what a nest!  Phoebe gets high marks as an insect catcher, but she falls right off the scale in nest construction skills.

6/30/11  Worried that I hadn't seen Phoebe all morning, I used that as an excuse to check on the babies.  When I first looked in, I couldn't see anything and I didn't hear a sound - most unusual for baby birds.  Well, they must have sensed my presence because they hopped up and set up a howl to be fed.  I couldn't offer them anything to eat, but I did get a great photo.  Moments later, Phoebe returned.  Maybe she had been out to lunch with the girls.