Identification - It is about the size of a sparrow. The body is generally dark grayish above and whitish-gray below. It has a dark head, all-black bill, and lacks both an eyering and wingbars. It sits upright and continuously pumps its tail while perched.
Morsels - This species was the first bird in North America to be "banded," when in the early 1800s, John James Audubon placed some silver wire around the legs of a family of Eastern Phoebes. Today, more than 50 million birds have been banded or ringed with small, numbered, aluminum or stainless steel bands. From those activities we have learned how long birds can live in the wild and that many birds return to their same nesting site or wintering site year after year.
