Kitsap Chronicles: I am Going to Miss Black Phoebes

I’m starting a new series of posts I’m calling the Kitsap Chronicles; the house in Southern California is sold, we’ve engaged a real estate agent, and today, we did our first video in-depth tour of a possible house of interest. Which, we’ve decided, we’re not making an offer on at this time, but it was a close call.

So, it seems we’re closer than ever to moving. The area we’re looking at is Kitsap County, hopefully near the town of Poulsbo, Washington. My long term plan is to build a page documenting the stuff I learn and the companies and services I discover, as kind of a “Newbie’s guide to Kitsap”, in hopes it’ll make someone else’s move in a bit easier, while this series will document the things we learn and what we discover as we make this move and settle into our new home. If you think about it, everything is going to be different; not just our address, but we’ll need new doctors, new dentists (we’ve been with our current dentist practice since the 1980s when I worked at Sun Microsystems) — in some ways the details fo this kind of move can be overwhelming. I’m choosing to use this as a chance to re-examine everything, including our insurance, how we do our taxes (I’m going to farm it out! this time, really) — man, everything. But in a lot of ways, this can be a great opportunity, also, depending on how you deal with it.

One of the things I’m starting to seriously research is the birding opportunities and community up there. As it gets a bit closer, I’ll definitely be joining both Seattle Audubon (the big chapter in the region) and Kitsap County Audubon, a smaller chapter serving this county. I have no idea if I’ll get involved in any way with either, and I think that initially, my plan needs to be to learn the area and how to bird it before I consider getting involved in the organization in any way. We’ll see. I’ve started scouting information about the area online, though, and trying to identify one or two places to visit in my planned June trip to go up there and do some general scouting — for things, like, where to buy furniture and the like.

And in looking at the information about the county, I suddenly realized that this planned move is taking me out of the range where the Black Phoebe lives.

This makes me a little sad.

The Black Phoebe is a small flycatcher. It is beyond common here in Silicon Valley, and we have a nest in the neighbor’s yard again this year, as has happened for many years, sitting under a roof eave and on top of the downspout of their gutters. It’s not uncommon when in a group outing somewhere around here to hear someone say “there’s the black phoebe, it’s a birding trip now”. they’re that common. They’re also quite charming birds, not terribly afraid of humans and well adapted to our urban environments as well as our wilder spots. They love to eat mosquitos and other tiny insects, so having them around your yard is never a bad thing.

If you look at their range map, though, you’ll see that they can be found all along the coastal areas of California, but their range ends in Southern Oregon. So where I’m going, there will be no Black Phoebes. This has always been a personal favorite species of mine, and it seems there have always been one or a few around the neighborhood. Back when he was alive, my dad — absolutely not a birder in any way, shape or form — became aware of a black phobe in his yard while gardening and started asking me about it, which allowed me to open up the birding world to him a bit. And after my dad passed and I had to clean out his office, I found a copy of a Sibley’s Guide in it, much to my surprise. So that Black Phoebe interested him in ways I never knew — but that attraction is why the Black Phoebe is so popular among most birders I know.

So one thing on my list: I’m going to have to figure out what my new, common, everyday yard bird is going to become my favorite. Will it replace the Black Phoebe completely?

I don’t know. But I do know I’ll always love the Black Phobe as a bird that helped me enjoy birding as I became the birder I am today, and there will always be a soft spot in my heart for it.

And I’m going to miss not having Black Phoebes to see in my yard and on my bird outings any more.