EASTERN PHOEBE (Sayornis phoebe) 
(Fig. 16 and 17) 
Spring Migration 
There are no data from which to judge whether the 
migration of the phoebe is nocturnal, diurnal, or both. 
Phoebes occur in Illinois in winter, but the winter 
population is almost negligible, and the possibility of 
confusing a winter bird with early spring migrants seems 
remote. Spring arrivals for the eastern phoebe have been 
recorded as early as February 1 and 15 in southern and 
central Illinois, and February 26 in the north (Ridgway 
1915, George 1968, Musselman 1921b, Ford et al. 1934). 
We observed more conspicuous influxes of phoebes on 
March 6 in the south, and around March 20 in | 
central and northern regions (Fig. 18). 
Compared with the migration of many other speci 
the phoebe’s migration is rather inconspicuous. Obsery 
often detect the first few phoebes to return in spring, | 
in general no large numbers of transient phoebes | 
seen. It is exceptional to see even as many as 10 per « 
(Fig. 18). The species tends to be solitary, and we hi 
never seen what could be called a real flock of phoebe: 
the spring. Our counts show great daily variation, | 
there is no consistent pattern in the spring counts fr 
region to region. The central Illinois data show px 
numbers in mid- and late April (Fig. 18), but with m 
years of observation Ekblaw & Ekblaw (1916) found pi 
Fig. 16. — Eastern phoebe in fresh fall plumage. This species is without bright colors. Photo taken at Urbana in Champaign County. 
18 
