Mad Phoebe Report

About 3 weeks ago, a pair of daffy Eastern Phoebes decided they would nest on top of the light fixture in the ceiling of our carport. Fine by me, but the top of the fixture is sharply sloped, and seemed a very poor choice of building site. For 2 days they kept piling moss and twigs onto the light, and every speck of it fell onto my ancient Saturn, which began to look like something dug up by a truffle pig. Dave and I tutted over the sad decay of instinct in the birds, and I told Renee it was like watching the wedding of an idiotic young couple who you pray will never breed.

Which just goes to show how little I know, because somehow the mad Phoebes solved the engineering problem and put up this lovely cantilevered nest.
Their perseverance was impressive, but I still didn't have much faith in them or their construction skills. Even when Mama started sitting a clutch of eggs, I figured the whole shebang was likely to come crashing down any minute. Wrong again. The nest has stayed rock solid and now has 3 lively chicks.




Dave took this pic a couple of days ago. The babies were still all mouth at that point, but this morning they were poking their heads out of the nest. The nest is holding fast, and I think everybody will be just fine as long as I remember not to turn on the light and fry the little dudes.

If you check out the Cornell Ornithology page on Eastern Phoebes, you'll see this note: "...The Eastern Phoebe is a loner, rarely coming in contact with other phoebes. Even members of a mated pair do not spend much time together. They may roost together a bit early in pair formation, but even during egg laying the female frequently chases the male away from her." I'm not the only one who doesn't know everything, because my Phoebes are constantly together, and Daddy seems quite devoted to his brood.