Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) Breeding-Range Expansion in the Pee Dee Region of South Carolina in 2022 Reaches the Lower Coastal Plain

Abstract

Abstract - In 2022, I repeated surveys for nest sites of Sayornis phoebe (Eastern Phoebe) at the same water-based anthropogenic structures (bridges, box culverts) that I had sampled in 2012 and 2016 to re-examine their breeding-range expansion in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. I also sampled additional bridges and box culverts within ∼20 km southeast of the lower boundary of a portion of the original study area. Eastern Phoebes continued to slowly expand their breeding range southeast in a step-wise manner (maximum rate to the breeding-range front of ∼1.9 km y-1), usually at small concrete bridges without ledges, but only within the Little Pee Dee River sub-basin. This extension of the species range within the original study area included the Town of Dillon, but now reaches further to Lake View, at the confluence of the Middle and Lower Coastal Plain along the Surry Scarp.