Yardbird #37 - Eastern Phoebe

I spent some time out in the hide today, dodging rain showers and enjoying the "nature channel."  I was highly entertained by a little Eastern Wood Pewee (Yardbird #36) that was waging war on all the backyard birds.  He only hung around briefly but managed to attack a number of birds, including a red-bellied woodpecker who is at least 7 times his size.  But I digress.

I saw this rather drab flycatcher zip into the garden, not 10 feet from where I was "hiding" and start gleaning insects.  Initially I thought it was the Pewee, but I quickly realized it was a young Eastern Phoebe.  If you look closely, you can see traces of his baby gape at the corner of the mouth.  And, you'll also see that he/she has caught some minuscule little insect. He stayed only briefly before heading off into the woods.  I chose this for my blip because he has the insect in his beak; a technically better (but less interesting) photo can be viewed HERE on Flickr.

And, I finally got my first close up look at one of the baby Red-bellied Woodpeckers!  They are just the cutest things and I am certain to blip one in the next few days.  In the meantime, to whet your appetite, I posted a cute shot HERE on Flickr.

The heat is cranking up, along with the humidity so the next 3-4 days are going to be hot and sticky.  Summer has arrived.  The good news is that as the heat increases, so do the insects.  

Thank you so much for all the love on yesterday's moth!  You put her on the second page of Pops, so thank you for that.  

xo
Debbi