The Story
This is a Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) that I photographed at the Fullerton Arboretum in Fullerton, California on August 28, 2016. It lives in many habitats but always near water. It waits on a perch and then sallies out to catch insects in the air. It builds an open cup nest of mud under a cliff or bridge. The Fullerton Arboretum covers 26 acres of the California State University, Fullerton campus and is the largest botanical garden in Orange County, with more than 4,000 plants.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100. IUCN lists the Black Phoebe as Least Concern with an increasing population, and the arboretum works to save plant species that are extinct or close to extinction and shares its research across Orange County.
©2017 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) belongs to the family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List