By Mel Carriere
My experience with birds has always been a positive one. I have never been harassed by angry crows or dive bombed by infuriated nest-defending Mockingbirds. Sometimes little Anna's hummingbirds take umbrage to my proximity to their digs and will frighten me off with a majestic J shaped swoop that doesn't even come close enough to ruffle the few remaining hairs on my balding head. For the most part, however, I have kept my distance and lived in peace with members of my local avian community, and they have reciprocated by regarding me as a harmless feature of the landscape.
But sometimes aerial threats come at you from unexpected directions, and such was the case last week when I was attacked from a quarter of the sky that I never would have expected.
The culprit was a Black Phoebe, a bird I have observed can be fierce in defending its home territory against invading members of its own species, but have never known to be aggressive against me or any other members of the Homo sapiens set. Indeed, my wife and I enjoy sipping our coffee in the dining room while we watch the tail wagging antics of Sayornis nigricans as they dive bomb for bugs from a planter hanger perch they make use of in our back yard. These birds never seem to object to, or even take notice our presence, for that matter.
But last Sunday, as I turned the corner of a building that is part of a large complex where I work security one day out of the week, I was the bug who was Phoebe dive bombed . An angry Black Phoebe, standing watch in a Sweet Gum tree just outside a window, took wing and began flying intimidating circles around my head as I walked by. Not prepared for this air bombardment I scurried off for safety, and when I was outside the Phoebe's comfort zone the bird assumed I got the message and went back to its vigilant post on the Sweet Gum.
As I continued my solitary rounds, I wondered about the Phoebe's unexpected bad temper, and could only conclude that the bird was jealously protecting a nest in the vicinity. When I swung by the same place again a little later the Phoebe was no longer using the Sweet Gum as a base for its Stuka operations, so I chanced a quick peek up into the rafters. There as expected was the rather unkempt mud cup that this Phoebe had constructed to raise its young in. Since I could not hear the urgent, hungry peeping of any bird babies, however, I concluded that the nest was empty, so it seemed a little strange to me that Ma Phoebe should be so urgently and insistently defending the place. It also seemed a bit odd that this bird should still be nesting so late in the season.
I conducted a little investigation on this bird's breeding habits, and found out that Black Phoebes do indeed "...nest in mud cups anchored in protected nooks, often under a bridge or the eaves of a building (per allaboutbirds)." The female does all the nest construction while the sperm donor Dad goes off on a bug bender, hence my attacker was most probably a lady. Phoebes raise 1-3 clutches, so it is possible the nest you see photographed above was a late brood, but I couldn't find any definitive dates about how late in the season this bird breeds. Even though I can't verify it from any bird authorities, however, I know now from personal experience that in July Phoebe love is still in the air, and these tail flicking fiends remain in "high feather" against anyone who might intrude too close to one of the ugly mud splats that their children call home.
I have decided not to declare war on Mrs. Phoebe, but to write off her unwarranted attack as a case of raging hormones. As a married man of near 25 years I can definitely understand female hormones run amok. Therefore, I will do my best to maintain a positive outlook on the Phoebe clan as I go about my terrestrial based duties and leave the sky to the birds.
A great place to start for beginning birders!
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The image is a composite. The photo on the right of the Phoebe nest was made by me, the photo on the left is taken from Wikipedia, and is attributed to: "Sayornis nigricans NBII" by John J. Mosesso, NBII - http://images.nbii.gov/details.php?id=56595&cat=Birds. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sayornis_nigricans_NBII.jpg#/media/File:Sayornis_nigricans_NBII.jpg
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