The past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a mystery bird in my back yard.  In fact it’s out there now.  It sits on Katie’s kennel (but not when she’s in it!) then flies off catches a bug and returns to it’s perch.  It’s an elegant but small brown bird with cream markings on the wings and a gray underside.  I have never seen it before these past couple of weeks and it is intriguing.

I emailed a friend of mine who is pretty good identifying birds, but she couldn’t tell me what it was from my description.   I’ve spent a good amount of time googling “small brown bird MI” and finally narrowed it down to the Eastern Phoebe.

Here’s a link to a great photo of the bird.  I think, given that I’ve noticed it here at least three different times this week, that it’s likely been around all summer and I just didn’t see it.   The first time I noticed it I thought it was a junco and the voice inside my head said “NOOOOO!”  because juncos are only here during the winter and it was way too early for me to believe winter was around the corner.  When I noticed it flying up and catching bugs I was relieved because juncos don’t do that.

I’m really excited to see a new bird around…even if it isn’t really “new.”

Katie, on the other hand, doesn’t care.