phee-phee

Updated: May 24, 2025

I took the voice for a young bird's, but found instead a male adult, who was twitching his tail nervously and scolding phee-phee, phee-phee, at a black-billed cuckoo perched near at hand, in his usual sneaking attitude. The goldfinch called and called, till my patience was nearly spent. Several other goldfinches were flying about in the neighborhood, but only this one was in the least excited.

Bradford Torrey - Birds in the Bush