This week on Birds of a Feather Talk Together, we’re talking all about the Black Phoebe—a charismatic little flycatcher of the western United States known for its tail-wagging, insect-catching acrobatics, and habit of nesting around homes and other human structures.

Thanks to listener Emily for inspiring this episode! She wrote in to tell us about a Black Phoebe nesting in her carport, which sent us down the rabbit hole on this fascinating bird. We get into Black Phoebe behavior, nesting, identification, and some of the things that make this species so much fun to have around.

We also kick things off with a preview of the Chicago Urban Birding Festival, happening this weekend! Birds of a Feather will be recording a live episode at the festival, complete with an audience Q&A. Also performing are Tommy and Billy from Extremely Accurate Bird Songs—which somehow leads us into a conversation about a certain piece of bird anatomy that could make Tommy’s already extremely accurate bird drawings even more accurate. We’ll leave it at that.

As always, Birds of a Feather Talk Together brings together married ornithologists Dr. John Bates and Dr. Shannon Hackett with birders RJ Pole and Amanda Pole for conversations about birds, birding, ornithology, natural history, and everything we discover along the way.

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