The Say's phoebe (Sayornis saya) is in the tyrant flycatcher family. A common bird in the western United States. It prefers dry, desolate areas. This bird was named for Thomas Say, the American naturalist.
The adult Say's phoebe is a drab, chunky bird. It is gray-brown above with a black tail and buffy cinnamon below, becoming more orange around the vent. The tail is long and the primaries end just past the rump on resting birds. The wings seem pale in flight and resemble a female mountain bluebird.
This bird is similar to the eastern phoebe. It sallies from a perch to catch insects in mid-air. It also hovers American kestrel-like and dips its tail while perched. The Say's phoebe also likes to feed just above the water's surface. They eat insects almost exclusively, but have been known to eat berries. Their song is a calm: puh-weeeeer, sometimes lengthened to piddy-weeeeer, or shortened to pweeeeer. The alternate song is a scratchy: pjzzzzeer.
