Say's Phoebe

Sayornis saya (Bonaparte)

Donald W. Lamm reported a nest of Say's phoebe at Tucson, Arizona, 22 March 1973, with 3 eggs of the host and 1 of the brown-headed cowbird (M. ater obscures). When revisited later there were 3 young phoebes and no cowbird. This is the first time Say's phoebe has been reported as a victim of the southwestern race of the parasite. The small number of previous instances (Friedmann, 1963:53) all involved the nominate race. To these may be added 2 more Kansas records: 1 from Oberlin, Decatur County, 31 May 1909 (now in the collections of the Western Foundation); and the other from Ellis County, 1974 (Schukman, 1974).

This species and the related black phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) provide a marked contrast with the eastern phoebe, as they are only seldom found to be parasitized. Schukman's study provides some direct, comparative data because he studied Say's phoebe and the eastern phoebe in the same area. The 1 parasitized Say's phoebe nest he found was among 30 nests of that species studied, whereas 6 of 66 eastern phoebe nests in this area were parasitized.

ACADIAN FLYCATCHER