Eastern Wood Pewee

Contopus virens

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesForestCup nestTiny · 14 g

What the Eastern Wood Pewee sounds like

Sonogram of the Eastern Wood Pewee: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathan Sowers · Call, flight call · Skippack Township (near Collegeville), Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Eastern Wood Pewee: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Oliver Komar · Call · El Zamorano, San Antonio de Oriente, Departamento de Francisco Morazán, Honduras · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Eastern Wood Pewee: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma · Call · Carver Park Reserve, Carver, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The eastern wood pewee is 13.5–15 cm (5.3–5.9 in) in length and weighs around 14 g (0.49 oz). Wingspan ranges 9.1–10.2 in (23–26 cm). The sexes are alike. The adult is 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. The songs are 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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Eastern Wood Pewee

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 6 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Eastern Wood Pewee

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 29 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Portugal, Argentina, Caribbean Netherlands, French Guiana.

About the Eastern Wood Pewee

The eastern wood pewee is a small tyrant flycatcher from North, Central and South America. This bird and the western wood pewee were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appearance, and can be distinguished most easily by their calls.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Eastern Wood Pewee vs Western Wood Pewee · Eastern Wood Pewee vs Olive-sided Flycatcher · Eastern Wood Pewee vs Southern Tropical Pewee

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