Cuban Pewee vs Greater Pewee

Cuban Pewee

Contopus caribaeus

Tiny11 gForest

The Cuban pewee is 15 to 16.5 cm (5.9 to 6.5 in) long and weighs 8.5 to 13.5 g (0.30 to 0.48 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. c. caribaeus have a dark olive-gray crown with a slight crest, slightly paler olive-gray lores, and a whitish crescent around the back of the eye on an otherwise olive-brown face. Their back is also olive-brown. Their wings are dusky brown with pale tips on the coverts that show as two faint wing bars. The wing's outer secondaries and tertials have whitish edges. Their tail is dusky. Voice: The dawn song of the Cuban pewee's nominate subspecies is "a high squeaky whistle, eeah, ooweeah, usually given sequentially". That of C. c. bahamensis adds a "dee-dee" phrase to the end of the same song. During the day the species sings "a prolonged descending weeeooooo". Its calls are "a repeated weet or dee softer dep or vi-vi notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ekaterina Chernetsova (Papchinskaya) from Saint-Petersburg, Russia · CC BY 2.0

Greater Pewee

Contopus pertinax

Small27 gForest

The greater pewee is 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) long and weighs about 22 to 36 g (0.78 to 1.3 oz). The sexes have the same plumage with a spiky crest. Subspecies C. p. minor is smaller than the nominate but has essentially the same plumage. Adults have a plain olive-gray head and upperparts, with pale lores and a slightly lighter face than the rest of the head. Their wings are dusky grayish brown with grayish olive ends on the coverts that show as two faint wing bars. They have pale grayish edges on their secondaries. Their tail is dusky grayish brown. Voice: The two subspecies of the greater pewee have different songs. That of the nominate subspecies is "a plaintive Ho-say ma-ree-ah" that gives rise to its Mexican Spanish name "papamoscas José María". There is some variation in the number of ho-say notes. The song of subspecies C. p. minor is "fred-rick fear".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: HarmonyonPlanetEarth · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cuban Pewee and Greater Pewee.