Species

Eastern wood-pewee

Contopus virens

A plain, olive-grey flycatcher whose slurred 'pee-a-wee' drifts from Georgia's summer woods all day.

Photo Rhododendrites (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab)

At a glance

Size: About 13 to 15 cm long
Weight: About 10 to 19 g
Habitat: Deciduous and mixed woods, parks and wooded suburbs
Diet: Flying insects
In Georgia: A common summer resident, April to October
Voice: A slow, sweet "pee-a-wee" and "pee-yer"
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Key marks: Olive-grey; two whitish wing bars; long wings; dark lower bill with an orange base; no eye-ring
Told apart from: Eastern phoebe, which wags its tail and has no wing bars
Told apart from: Acadian flycatcher, which has an eye-ring and lives near streams
Where to look: The mid-canopy of open woods; listen for its song

Behaviour

Eastern wood-pewees sit on open branches in the forest and sally out to catch flying insects, then return to the same perch.

Why they matter

Eastern wood-pewees are one of the most characteristic sounds of the eastern forest in summer. They have declined over recent decades, possibly because of insect losses and changes in forests.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — A small, shallow cup covered in lichen, on a horizontal branch
Eggs — Usually two or three
Incubation — About 12 to 13 days
Chicks — Fed by both parents
Flight — At about 15 to 18 days
Lifespan — Several years

Living around people

Pesticides in woods and gardens reduce the insects they eat.

Misconceptions

Plain birds are not worth noticing. The pewee's song is one of the defining sounds of a summer woodland.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	In South America	In South America	In South America	Arriving	Nesting	Nesting	Young fledging	Present	Migrating south	Last birds	In South America	In South America

Where it lives

Recorded in 56 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Canada

Mexico

If you found one

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