January 18, 2026

I am an Eastern Phoebe

I'm known to eat wasps, ticks and milipedes

I'll eat butterflies

And spiders and flys

And sometimes even small fruits and seeds.

Location: TM Goodwin WMA, Broadmore Unit

Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Phoebe/lifehistory

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

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January 11, 2023

I am an Eastern Phoebe

I'm monogamous and a creature of habit

I'll reuse a nest site every year

Which I always renovate, though nothing elaborate. 

A new coat of mud, leaves and grass right over the old

And we're ready to raise young and cohabit.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sayornis_phoebe/

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

November 25, 2022

I am known as an Eastern Phoebe

I'm known to share nests with Barn Swallows

I migrate and come back, and reuse the same nest

And the Swallows use my nest for the season that follows.

Location: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL

Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Phoebe/overview

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 15, 2022

I am an Eastern Phoebe

I am a small passerine

When it rains I tend to stay hunkered down

So I don't need gaberdine. 

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Phoebe/id
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaberdine

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

December 10, 2021

I am a medium-sized fly catcher

Known as an Eastern Phoebe

My habit of building nests under bridges

Has earned me the nickname "bridge peewee".

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sayornis_phoebe/

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 16, 2021

I am an Eastern Phoebe, 

Taking a nap on this twig

I prefer to be alone even during mating season

Other birds company's not something I dig.

Location: Titusville, Blackpoint Wildlife Drive

Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Phoebe/overview

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

March 30, 2020

Location: Goodwin Waterfowl Management Area, Fellsmere

I am an Eastern Phoebe
Cornell describes me as "plump"
They also say, I have a "large, flat head"
They make me sound like a hideous chump!

Sources: Cornell Lab All About Birds - Eastern Phoebe

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 27, 2019

Location: Fellsmere, T.m. Goodwin WMA

I am an Eastern Phoebe
I'm part of the Tyrant Flycatcher family.
We mostly eat insects, but in different ways -
Some of us sally and some of us glean.

Sources: EOL - Tyrant Flycatchers

Photo and text © 2018 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

April 4, 2018

Location: Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

I am an Eastern Phoebe
You might confuse me with a Wood Pewee
But Pewees are darker and have longer wings,
And they don't wag their tails, unlike me.

Sources: National Geographic Animals - Eastern Phoebe

Photo and text © 2018 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

February 10, 2018

Location: Fellsmere, St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park

I am a juvenile Eastern Phoebe
You can tell by my plumage.
My head is brown and my tummy,
Is the color of a light cheddar fromage.

(Note from Heather, my French coach who says: "The note [on your poem] has to be that your French coach is cringing at the poem. Also, having said that, the French do treat their Rhymes in poetry more loosely than we do... They actually have varying degrees of rhyming.")

Sources: Cornell Lab - Eastern Phoebe

Photo and text © 2018 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 27, 2018

Location: Lake Apopka, Magnolia Park

Here lies an Eastern Phoebe
Unfortunately recently demised.
In addition to natural predators,
Sometimes cars catch birds by surprise.

While it's quite unfortunate for the bird
Death is not always just ugly
It can also provide opportunity
For scientific study.

Source: Scientists Are Using 135 Years Worth of Dead Birds to Study Pollution

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 8, 2018

Location: Fellsmere, St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park

I am an Eastern Phoebe,
I was the first recorded American banded bird.
Audubon tied a silver string 'round my ancestor's leg,
And then he waited for the bird to return.

Sources: USGS - A Brief History About the Origins of Bird Banding


Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

December 16, 2017

Location: Georgia, Seminole State Park

I'm an Eastern Phoebe.
I like to eat bugs and insects.
But I'm in the flycatcher family,
So what else would you expect?

Sources: Cornell Lab - Eastern Phoebe

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson