Birds

First Phoebe of 2014

March 29, 2014 by Corey 3 Comments

I finally saw my first migratory Eastern Phoebe of 2014 today at Rockaway Community Park in Queens! It is the next-to-latest date I have ever had my first of the year. For me, spring doesn’t really begin until I see my first phoebe on migration so I am relieved that I finally saw one. Spring can now start!

As I have for the last several years, I will now ask the same question of midwesterners and northeasterners that I ask every year: When did you see your first Eastern Phoebe of 2014? And was it late or early?

For me, the 29th is pretty late, though the late date might have more to do with my lack of time birding last weekend rather than phoebes showing up late. Here are my arrival dates for my first Eastern Phoebes of the year for the last nine years:

2014 – 29 March

2013 – 24 March

2012 – 15 March

2011 – 19 March

2010 – 31 March

2009 – 15 March

2008 – 21 March

2007 – 26 March

2006 – 03 March

The average date I see my first migratory Eastern Phoebe of the year is 20 March. What about you?

By the way, the picture at the top of the post is the bird that was my first of the year this year. I thought that despite the relative lousiness of the photo that it deserved to be shown, just because it it showed itself to me.

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.