Black Phoebe, close up
Sayornis nigricans
Black Phoebe · San Diego Botanic Garden · 7 March 2026
A Black Phoebe close up in a San Diego garden in March with an insect, a fly by the look of the patterned wings, still spread as the bird works it into position to swallow head-first. Black Phoebes are flycatchers of streamsides and garden ponds across the Southwest and Mexico, rarely far from water, and resident all year.
Phoebes routinely take stinging insects, and whether they consistently disarm them first or simply tolerate the risk isn't well settled. The sooty black head and breast against a clean white belly are unmistakable; this is the western counterpart of the Eastern Phoebe.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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