How to Identify aSay's Phoebe
Sayornis saya · 6.7 in (17 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Brownish-gray head and back, pale gray chest and a warm cinnamon belly and undertail, with a blackish tail. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Cephas / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Basar / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Field marks
- Cinnamon-orange belly against gray upperparts
- Blackish tail contrasting with a brown back
- Pumps its tail while perched
- Upright posture on low perches in open country
Similar species
What it sounds like
A plaintive, downslurred whistled "pee-ur", thin and mournful.
Behaviour that gives it away
Hovers over open ground to pick insects, and nests on ledges of barns, mine shafts and cliff faces.
Habitat & range
Dry open country, badlands, canyons, ranchland and desert edges across the West.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in western and southwestern North America you are, it is present all year and a summer visitor that arrives to breed.
What it eats
Insects taken in flight or hovered for above open ground.
Did you know?
It breeds further north than any other flycatcher, reaching the Arctic slope of Alaska.
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