Eastern Phoebe with a moth

Sayornis phoebe

Eastern Phoebe · Everglades National Park · 6 February 2026

An Eastern Phoebe in the Everglades in February with a small moth in its bill, taken on the wing and brought back to this perch to beat against the branch before swallowing. Phoebes breed across the eastern United States and Canada and winter in the South, and they are one of the few flycatchers content well south of their breeding range in winter, willing to perch low in tangled scrub rather than working an open sightline from a wire.

The plain grey-brown upperparts, dark head, and complete lack of wing bars or an eye-ring are enough on their own. Nothing else winters this far south with quite that combination, and beating a catch against the branch is standard practice for anything with wings that might otherwise make an escape attempt half-swallowed.