Western Wood-Pewee

Contopus sordidulusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

General

Western Wood-Pewee: Medium-sized flycatcher with dull olive-gray upperparts and pale olive-gray underparts. Head has darker cap and slight crest. Wings are dark with two white bars. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Western Wood-Pewee: Breeds from eastern Alaska, Mackenzie, and Manitoba south through western U.S. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, woodland edges, and orchards.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"pee-eeer"

Interesting Facts

The Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees are very difficult to tell apart visually, the two birds were formerly considered to be one species.

In a few areas along the western edge of the Great Plains the two pewees occur together without interbreeding-conclusive evidence that despite their great similarity, they are distinct species.

It makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.

A group of pewees are collectively known as a "dribble" and a "squirt" of pewees.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Western Wood-Pewee

Western Wood-Pewee: Medium-sized flycatcher with dull olive-gray upperparts and pale olive-gray underparts. Head has darker cap and slight crest. The wings are dark with two white bars. Feeds on insects, spiders and berries. Quiet and solitary. Weak fluttering flight with shallow rapid wing beats.

● Song: "pee-eeer"

● Foraging & Feeding: Western Wood-Pewee: Diet consists almost exclusively of insects, often caught in flight; berries are sometimes eaten.

● Breeding & nesting: Western Wood-Pewee: Two to four white eggs with brown and lavender marks at large end are laid in a shallow saucer of grass fastened to a horizontal branch. Incubation is typically 12 or 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Western Wood-Pewee: Eastern Wood-Pewee is paler below, but is best distinguished by voice.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Western Wood-Pewee: Breeds from eastern Alaska, Mackenzie, and Manitoba south through western U.S. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, woodland edges, and orchards.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationCommon to abundant

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America