Flycatchers that aren't called Flycatchers at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge

We've been journeying down south to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge every weekend for the last month, watching for the arrival of the winter migrants from the Arctic. The Sandhill Cranes and Greater White-fronted Geese have started to arrive in some serious numbers, but on the whole it has been relatively quiet. In a few weeks there will be tens of thousands of geese and the quiet reserve will become a cacophony of arguing squawkers. In the meantime we've been enjoying the serenity and the chance to catch some of the smaller birds who normally get lost in the chaos. Those include a couple of flycatchers who aren't called flycatchers, the Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) and the Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya).

The Black Phoebe is one of my dependable favorites. I see them often on my home turf, and they are tolerant of the bumbling human with the camera. They display typical flycatcher behavior, that is 'fly-catching'. They'll pick a perch, sally forth to acrobatically nail a fly or other insect, and then perch again in the same spot. The Black Phoebes are primarily southwestern birds who mainly live in riparian habitats. In 2019 I saw a particularly memorable individual, a leucistic Black Phoebe, meaning a Black Phoebe that wasn't black at all.

The other flycatcher that I see regularly at the refuge is a Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya). I've probably been watching the same individual for the last month, since it has occupied the same fencepost every day we've visited the refuge. I see this species far less often back home, so it's always a treat to see one on the road. The species is far more widespread, with a range that extends into the Midwest, and all the way to Alaska. Errant birds have been sighted all the way to the Atlantic Seaboard. It ranges farther north than any other flycatcher.

So cue the big birds, the Snow and Ross's Geese, and the Cackling Geese. It's going to be a raucous party soon!

An Oxymoron and a Rare Bird: A White Black Phoebe at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge

This was an extraordinary day. It's not all that often that you get to see a bird rare enough that you probably won't see it again in your life. But that's what happened. We were having another look at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge to check and see what new winter migrants have arrived. As we were getting ready to start the auto-tour loop, I saw a white bird in the bushes near the entrance sign.

Unless they are Snow Geese or Pelicans, white birds are kind of unusual in our area. It's not hard to figure out why...they can't hide from predators very well, seeing as how we never have snow. What made this bird even more unusual was that it was just the right size to be a flycatcher, and it was behaving just like a flycatcher, perching and then flying out for bugs and then returning to the perch. But flycatchers aren't white, especially the flycatcher known as the Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans). The picture below shows the normal appearance of a Black Phoebe.

I could barely understand what I was seeing, given that I am still a bit new at the bird-watching business. But when I got the angle in the picture below, I was strongly suspecting that I had found a leucistic Black Phoebe, even though I had never heard of such a thing in the past. I tried googling right then in the field the term for a white color in birds but mistook leucocratic instead of leucistic, and kept getting references to granitic rocks instead of anything having to do with birds (I figured it out later at home).

Leucism is different than albinosim. Albino animals lack melanin, a natural pigment that provides dark color. They are generally pure white, and their eyes will be pink (click here for an example of an albino California Scrub Jay). Leucistic birds have melanin, but they are inefficient at using it in their feathers, so they may show some color, as seen in the Black Phoebe I saw today.

I could find only a few references to leucistic Black Phoebes so I suspect that unless I see this particular individual on our future trips to the Merced NWR, I'll probably never see one again. They seem to be pretty rare. But "White Black Phoebe" makes for a great example of an oxymoron.

UPDATE (10/2025): I found out this bird was the subject of a research report (and that it is not exactly leucistic, but rather a "brown aberrant". The link is here: (PDF) Color Aberration in a Black Phoebe in the Central Valley of California

In Praise of the Normal Every Day Birds: Black Phoebe on the Tuolumne River

There are rarer birds, like the Red-breasted Sapsucker I saw a few days ago, or the really rare birds like the Rose-breasted Grosbeak that I found last June. But sometimes it is nice to simply enjoy the stalwarts, the birds that I see almost every time I hike the Tuolumne Parkway Trail.

I saw a few Black Phoebes (Sayornis nigricans) yesterday, but this one gave me pause because it didn't fly away when I pulled the camera out. I don't usually get this close to them. I was pleased with the result because the eyes can often get lost within the black feathers on the head and breast. Today the bird's eye caught the late afternoon sun.

The Black Phoebes are members of the tyrant flycatcher family, and they are fun to watch as they flutter from their perch to catch bugs. Unlike so many other flycatchers, they are not migratory, and instead are resident species all year round.

Black Phoebe at the Cosumnes River Preserve

I was picking someone up at Sacramento Airport the other day, and had enough time to make a brief stop at the Cosumnes River Preserve between Stockton and Sacramento. If I had been intending to hike the usual nature trail around the wetland, it just wasn't going to happen...the Cosumnes River was flowing at around 6,000 cubic feet per second, and the entire trail was deep underwater. But as I was looking at the inundated trailhead, I spied a Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) in the shrubs nearby, and it allowed me a few pictures. They are pretty little tyrant flycatchers that are fun to watch as they do their aerial acrobatics chasing insects.

Phoebes and Phainopeplas on the Tuolumne River

I feel like I'm only scratching the surface when it comes to identifying bird species along the Tuolumne River in Waterford where the river emerges from the Sierra Nevada onto the floor of the Great Valley. The Tuolumne Parkway trail is a few weeks from completion, so I have been checking on construction progress, and discovering as many species as I can. Some days I'll see no more than a few Scrub Jays, and other days I'll see a dozen species. This week offered up a fine shot of a Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans), and a fuzzy shot of the first male Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) I've ever seen around here (I saw a female a week or two ago). The males are pure black, while the females are gray.

It is amazing to see the variety of life that lies just beyond our backyards when an artery of wilderness passes through town. The variety of microenvironments (river, dry slopes, ponds, swamps, and woodlands) provides for a wide diversity of species of all kinds. I'll probably be seeing new things for years.

A Little Flycatcher along the Tuolumne River

I see a lot of Black Phoebes (Sayornis nigricans) in our region, and somehow I've only posted about them once. They are a member of the tyrant flycatcher family, one of the most diverse groups in the Americas, with more than 400 species. There are only three species of Phoebe in the United States, though. They are sweet little birds, perching on branches and fences near sources of water. They'll see a bug, soar down and catch it and sweep back to their perch. They are a western species, found primarily in California and the border states. Their range does extend south, though, all the way through Mexico and into South America as far as Argentina.

I saw this little one along the Tuolumne River Parkway, the short stretch of trail being built along the river in my little town at the boundary between the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Great Valley. It's marvelous that our community is recognizing the value of a beautiful stretch of river. It's going to be a nice place for relaxing, exercising, and learning about the natural history of this biologically rich environment. It's expected to be completed in the next month or two.

Bird of the Day: Black Phoebe at Stanislaus

You may see this particular bird more than once on this blog. It hangs out in the same spot outside my office at CSU Stanislaus near a cottonwood tree in the Outdoor Education Lab. It's a Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans). I've seen them at all of my bird hunting spots around town, but this individual has been the most consistent, hunting for insects around the pond by the Science Building. It's a variety of flycatcher, found near water sources all over the southwestern United States.