I have continued watching the area near where the male Black Phoebe and probable female Eastern Phoebe nested as I did catch a few glimpses of at least one fledgling. I finally got a good view of the phoebe in these pics a few days ago but had hoped I would get some clearer photos to post so held off. These pics are digiscoped (hand held camera to scope) at distance of about 75 feet. Since I took these pics I have only seen glimpses of a possible offspring of this mixed phoebe pair.
This bird demonstrates an intermediate plumage with features of both Black and Eastern Phoebe. The juvenile phoebe in these pics shows the white belly with inverted 'V' of white feathers extending up into breast while the rest of the breast, the wings, tail and back are blackish as is found on Black Phoebes (though in young birds the black coloration is usually very black not the more charcoal-like coloration on this bird). Then this phoebe shows a whitish throat as is found on Eastern Phoebes (while Black Phoebes have black throats).
I observed this young apparent hybrid BlackXEastern Phoebe sallying after insects, appearing to now be independent of it's parents (timing would be appropriate for Black but too soon for Eastern per
Birds of North America online. SeEtta
0 comments:
Post a Comment