A distinctive black-and-white phoebe of the southwest, the black phoebe is almost always found near water. Polytypic (5 ssp.). Length 4.5".

Black head, upperparts, breast; contrasting white belly, undertail coverts. Juvenile: plumage briefly held; similar to adult’s, but browner, with 2 cinnamon wing bars, cinnamon tips to the feathers on the upperparts.

North American semiatra (south to western Mexico) has duller and duskier head; birds south of Isthmus of Panama have extensive white in wings.

Distinctive. Has hybridized with the eastern phoebe (Colorado); offspring appear intermediate.

Call: includes a loud tseew and a sharp tsip, similar to the eastern phoebe’s but sounding more plaintive and whistled. Song: thin whistled song consists of 2 different 2-syllable phrases: a rising sa-wee followed by a falling