Eastern Wood-Pewee - Ross Feldner

The Eastern Wood-Pewee and the Western Wood-Pewee were once considered a single species and although the two species are virtually identical in appearance, they can be distinguished most easily by their calls.

In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Eastern Wood Pewee in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in the Carolinas. It is not a visually striking bird, but when it calls out its pee-a-wee, you know just what bird it is and how it got its name.

Pewees prefer to feed by perching on a dead branch, flying out after insects and returning to the perch, seeking out flies, butterflies, bees, and wasps.

Part of the Pewee's strategy of blending into the background is how it constructs its nest. Using lichen to cover it makes the nest so inconspicuous that you may think it’s just a knot on a branch. And, it anchors the nest using spider webs!

Eastern Wood-Pewees breed in deciduous, mixed woods and migrate to Central America and even the Andes region of South America.

Males are very territorial and will defend the nesting area aggressively and even pursue attacks on other species such as flycatchers, robins, sparrows and vireos. Although their numbers are declining mostly due to forest habitat loss, they are not considered threatened.