Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Eastern Phoebe

The management system for the eastern phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) is typically seen in three major parts: faunal space, population, and people management. The following are the suggestions for improving conditions for this shy, gray, flycatcher with the pleasant song that sounds to some people like its name.

Habitat or Faunal Space

Attach nest shelves 8 to 12 feet off the ground under porch rafters, eaves of houses and camps, to barns and sheds, and to large old trees next to openings.

Make the shelves, a simple "L" or a box with the opening facing outward, about 6 inches by 6 inches, out of treated wood. Do not paint them; drill holes in the back 6-inch board for nails (to reduce splitting and allow removals for cleaning, etc.).

Retain old barns, sheds, and home-sites but consider building small similar structures for the birds.

Build a birdbath or garden pool or put nesting structures near the farm pond or lake.

The habitat for the bird is one for insects and for perching areas from which it feeds. The best insect areas for this bird are:

Tall trees at the back of the lawn or property -- conifers.

Tall trees along the sides -- white pines, eastern red cedar, white spruce, blackgum, and the oaks

Fruit trees on the sunny side of the tall ones -- flowering dogwoods, serviceberry, crabapple, apple, cherry, hawthorns, mulberry

Shrubs and vines in blocks between the fruit trees -- honeysuckle, blackberry, wildrose, redbud, forsythia, arrowwood, viburnum

Vines, perennials, and annuals add to the mix of plants producing insects, abundant, all season long.

Plant marginal land in shrubs and perennial grasses and forbs.

Develop thick, brushy hedgerows and streambanks.

One-acre forest clearings have many uses by animals. Edges of these long thin (50-foot wide) clearings make good places for the nesting shelves.

Monitor the costs of management, both those direct costs and in money foregone (production of acres and alternative uses). Relate changed bird populations to the direct costs.

Populations

Protect and encourage management of over-wintering areas by working with national and international groups.

Eliminate feral cats.

Place snake deflectors near nests if feasible.

Avoid use of pesticides.

Monitor the populations every year at about the same time in the spring. Make early bird-walk counts of singing males. Plot the results.

People

Encourage others to work with you for the phoebe. Visit schools. Use the existing web page and create others devoted to the local phoebe (and perhaps other birds).

Sponsor birdwalks and visits to see your successes.

Publish magazine and newspaper articles on the phoebe and its management and its dependence on insects of the natural world.

Encourage others to put up nest shelves. Recycle waste wood scraps in the shelves. Form a group and keep everyone posted on collective successes.

Encourage others to create front- and back-yard wildlife areas.

Make and maintain trails so that the birds can be safely and easily observed.

Lend youth and others binoculars for improved viewing.

Contributions by Judie Holien, (1991), Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.