Thursday's Bird Watch!

This is a Black Phoebe, a member of the Flycatcher Family.  They are easy to identify because they are almost entirely black except for the strikingly white underside. They love to hang around streams and ponds and are fun to watch as they fly out from a perch to catch an insect, and then return back to their perch, and then repeat over and over again. In the last two decades they have become a more common bird to be seen here in the Willamette Valley.  I took this photo last week in the nearby Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge at Cottonwood Pond.  In fact, I'm willing to go out on a limb here and guarantee that if you were to drive out to Baskett Slough and take Coville Rd. to Cottonwood Pond, you would find this Black Phoebe feeding along the shoreline next to the road. - Jim Scott