Whispers of the Wild: Exploring the Enigmatic Eastern Phoebe
Hello Everyone,
This weekend was fun. I got to go out for my usual walks I take weekly just exploring and photographing as I go along. This week I saw a lot of reports of Eagles on the Maryland side of potomac. I decided that’s where I would concentrate my hike in this week. Location was 53 minutes from my house but I been traveling to Maryland every week following reports of rare birds. I been having issues with my back so I thought walking less would work better for me. Turns out that the trail I choose is really long I didn’t even get to finish it. However, it was worth the walk as I found a second Eagles nest. It seemed like they were already guarding eggs as I witness the male flying collecting food and nesting materials. A truly majestic bird of prey. This bird may look small from far but up close is such an intimidating bird for sure. If the size doesn’t intimidate you wait until you see there wingspan. I didn’t only get the pleasure of seeing just that one Eagle I got to see 2 young ones as well. The young ones don’t look like your typical Eagle as they are yet to developed the iconic white hairs around their head. They usually start showing the white hairs around the head until they are 5 years old. A truly remarkable species if you happen to see reports near you I suggest you go and witnessed them for yourself you won’t be disappointed.
Like I said I been having some discomfort in my back. The past week has been a bit rough getting around and getting things done. This back pain usually comes after my semi-annual infusions. I have arthritis in my back so I am unsure if my medication triggers it or if it’s an episode of my arthritis pain that I am having. It makes it very hard to move and get around that’s for sure. I was actually surprise that it took this long to come as I had my infusion back in December. As I am writing this my back pain has actually worsen and I require a bit of help with certain things. I’m hoping rest will calm some of the pain down. Whenever this pain comes depending on the severity of it I usually suffer 1 to 2 weeks with it. I am hoping that I am still able to be mobile so I can go this weekend to photograph a city I been trying to go to for a while now. I want to rest up a bit so this blog will be short. My apologies for that I always try my best with my blogs as not only does it help my writing, I love sharing fun facts about this birds and sharing a bit about my life with you all. I will leave you with some interesting facts about the Eastern Phoebe I hope you enjoy.
The Eastern Phoebe a small little brown bird that visits us here in VA for spring. Is a plumb songbird with a medium-length tail. The head often appears flat on top but if they want to they can raise their feather up into a peak. They generally perched low on in trees or fence lines. They usually do this to make sure they can see any insects so they can make that small flight to capture one and come back to the same perching spot. Their preference in food impacts there preferred location they favor open woods such as yards, parks, woodlands, and woodland edges. They typically prefer being around water sources as they provide a substantial amount of insects. They typically build nesting sites around human-built structures such as eaves of buildings, overhanging decks, bridges and culverts. There diet usually consist of flying insects, common prey include wasp, beetles, dragonflies, butterflies and moths, flies, midges, and cicadas. They can also eat spiders, ticks, and millipedes, as well as occasional fruits and seeds. Only females build nest, while the males accompanies them. The females build the nest from mud, moss, and leaves mixed with grass stems and animal hairs. Nest can take 5-14 days to build and are 5 inches across when finished. The nest cup is 2.5 inches across and 2 inches deep. Unlike most birds, nest are often use in subsequent years. A clutch size is typically 4-6 eggs with 1-2 broods. Incubation period last between 15-16 days with nestling period of 16-20 days. Phoebes rarely are seen in groups and even mated pairs spend little time together. Males sing their two parted raspy song throughout the spring and aggressively defend their territory from other Eastern Phoebes, though they tolerate other species. When out in a park or near a lake keep your eye out for this little ones. They are so cute!
Hope you enjoyed and until next week have a great week!
