Tuxedo Bird…by Brad Marks

This was one busy week for us down at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO (got the state right this time David!). It started with Ruger and Raven running in the agility ring at the Poodle Nationals and ended the week with Ruger’s FastCAT runs yesterday and today (two flat out 100 yard sprints each day). In between those competition bookends, I spent most of the free (non-raining) time during the day over at Shaw Preserve. That place is incredible and I will definitely have more to say about it in upcoming posts. Managed to go at least +10 there in new birds for the year and even got a hard 11 mile run in on their rather hilly trails. My visits in the previous years merely scratched the surface of that place. Even squeezed a trip to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens – another surprisingly large place. The nights were spent working on content for the mothership – a three post series on a new prop for the 2023 Haunted Trail – feel free to check those out if you are interested in another behind the scenes walk-through on what it takes to put that event on every year (link here) – caution, those posts go deep into detail, so lots of words…and pretty pictures ha. That packed week has left me pretty exhausted, although nothing compared to the boys who are all currently passed out in their beds with little do not disturb signs hanging off their paws). Brad has been keeping things under control at Intrigued HQ while we were away and we’ll let him take us into May with another of his UNBNP encounters.

Take it away Brad…

During the end of our visit to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP), Jan was trying to find me this time.  I wandered past the parking lot to an area below the visitor center along the water.  As is usually the case, there was something dark and feathered flitting about among the low branches of a very small tree near the water.  Without my bird whisperer nearby, Jan, I had to keep looking until I spotted this little beauty.

My subject was sitting in a little tree about 30 feet from the path to my left.  The late morning sun, obscured by haze and thin clouds, was mostly to my right.  My quarry took pity on me and rested for a few seconds, quite literally.  At first, in my newbie perspective, I thought it was a flycatcher from California, since many of the critters here had California in their names and it looked like it was catching flies.  I was close. 

This bird wasn’t making any noise, at least nothing Merlin could identify, so no help with name.  This is sometimes the exciting part of being a new birder.  I recognize I haven’t seen this bird before, but really have no clue what it’s called.  Sort of like opening a box of Cracker Jack; you don’t really know what the prize in the box will be. 

Learn more about this well dressed birdie after the jump!

I had stumbled onto a Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans).  Looking back, I had identified many of the characteristics of this little contrasty bird, but didn’t have the knowledge to put it all together.  The Phoebe was sitting on a low branch near a small creek.  It was making short flights to catch insects I was unable to see.  Maybe the Phoebe was simply practicing, or showing off for the camera.

With the sideways glance, I had the impression it was waiting for me to catch its good side; Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.

The light was changing ever so slightly as this bird moved from perch to perch.  Leaves in the background had taken on a bright yellow hue which I dampened a bit in Lightroom.  This particular bird was in nearly constant motion, moving from branch to stalk to twig to branch and back again.  I presume the spasticity wasn’t to mess with my camera’s ability to focus, which it certainly was doing.  I’m sure it was making a meal on the small flying bugs in its general area, I just couldn’t see them.

In all but one photo, the crest on its head was raised.  Black Phoebe bodies are typically dark slate colored.  The heads are even darker.  They have white highlights on their wings and snow white bellies looking like a reverse-cummerbund from a tux.

Singular Black Phoebes are typically non-social, outside the breeding season, and not much more social inside the breeding season, outside of their mate of course.  That may explain why I saw this one all alone.  Phoebes principally eat insects.  Once a Phoebe spots a meal flying by, it leaves its perch and takes the meal on-the-wing, so to speak.  Phoebes have been known to go after small minnows if the tiny fish are close enough to the surface of the water.

A mated pair will raise 1-6 eggs at a time, up to three times a year.  Small glossy white eggs incubate for a little over two weeks.  Hatchlings are born helpless with their eyes closed and covered with gray down.  Chicks mature quickly because in less than three weeks they are “outta there”.  Pairs of Black Phoebe are mostly monogamous and will stay together for up to 5 years.

A mated pair will aggressively defend their nesting territory.  So much so that other Phoebe nests are usually a few hundred to several hundred feet away.  A pair of Black Phoebes will also chase away other flycatchers, songbirds, and even Jays.  Can you say anti-social?  The pair will even go after foxes or ground squirrels to keep their territory safe.

I must not have looked like a large mosquito or a bug, so the Phoebe took off, leaving me to my thoughts.  Or it heard Jan calling out for me.  Either way, we did have a long-ish drive to Las Vegas so probably best to get going.  I had the car keys with me so I wasn’t as worried about getting locked out as Brian was here.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Black Phoebe photos, please visit here.

Credits: Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing