BIRD SPECIES

Eastern Wood Pewee

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pipilo erythrophthalmus

The Eastern Wood Pewee is a medium- sized flycatcher with long wings and tail, short legs and a peaked crown.

It is a neotropical migrant, it summers throughout the eastern half of the United states and southeastern Canada and winters in South America.

Adults measure about 5.9 inches in length, with 9.1 - 10.2 inches wingspan and weight of about 10- 19 grams.

They are gray-olive on the upperparts with light underparts, washed with olive on the breast. Each wing has two pale wing bars, and the primary remiges are long, giving the wingtip a slim and very pointed appearance. The upper part of the bill is dark, the lower part is yellowish.

CALL: Have several other calls including a terse "chip" note, a shrill "peeee" given when an intruder disturbs a pair at the nest, and short twittering notes during courtship and mating.

SONG: Basically, a mournful whistled "pee-a'wee" given in a series, which gave this bird its name, and a "pe-wee" with a rising note at the end. They begin singing before sunrise, and may be heard at almost any time of the day or night.

Feeds almost exclusively on insects, especially flying insects. They will also occasionally eat berries.

Prefers deciduous forest during the summer breeding season, although they will also use mixed forest. They are normally found in and around forest openings and edges. They winter along forest edges and scrubby forest in the tropics.

Nest is an open cup made of grasses, bark, and lichen, attached to a horizontal tree branch with spider webs.

The female lays almost always 3 (sometimes 2) translucent-white eggs with brown flecking concentrated towards the larger end of the ovate egg. Incubation last for 12 - 14 days.

SOURCES:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
https://www.sdakotabirds.com
https://en.wikipedia.org