The eastern wood pewee (''Contopus virens'') is a small tyrant flycatcher from
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
western wood pewee
The western wood pewee (''Contopus sordidulus'') is a small tyrant flycatcher. Adults are gray-olive on the upperparts with light underparts, washed with olive on the breast. They have two wing bars and a dark bill with yellow at the base of the ...
(''C. sordidulus'') were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appearance, and can be distinguished most easily by their calls.
Taxonomy
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
The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east.
Combining Nort ...
. He used the French name ''Le gobe-mouche cendré de la Coroline'' and the Latin ''Muscicapa Carolinensis cinerea''. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the
binomial system
The binomial system ( es, Sistema binominal) is a voting system that was used in the legislative elections of Chile between 1989 and 2013.
From an electoral system point of view, the binomial system is in effect the D'Hondt method with an ope ...
and are not recognised by the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries.
Orga ...
. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
'' for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the eastern wood pewee. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Muscicapa virens'' and cited Brisson's work. The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
''virens'' is Latin for "green". This species is now placed in the genus ''Contopus'' that was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1855. The species is monotypic.
Description
The eastern wood pewee is in length and weighs around . Wingspan ranges from 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
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...
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.
The
western wood pewee
The western wood pewee (''Contopus sordidulus'') is a small tyrant flycatcher. Adults are gray-olive on the upperparts with light underparts, washed with olive on the breast. They have two wing bars and a dark bill with yellow at the base of the ...
(''C. sordidulus'') is essentially indistinguishable visually. But its range is parapatric to the west of the eastern wood pewee and its song—a descending ''tsee-tsee-tsee-peeer''—is entirely different.
The
eastern phoebe
The eastern phoebe (''Sayornis phoebe'') is a small passerine bird. The genus name ''Sayornis'' is constructed from the specific part of Charles Lucien Bonaparte's name for Say's phoebe, ''Muscicapa saya'', and Ancient Greek ''ornis'', "bird". ...
(''Sayornis phoebe'') is similar, particularly in the worn plumage after breeding. It always lacks clearly defined wingbars, however, and bobs its tail frequently. It has a shorter primary projection. The eastern phoebe is also present on the breeding grounds by March, while eastern wood pewees do not arrive until very late April and early May. The songs (''fee-bee, fee-bee'') and calls (''chip'') are quite different. The
least flycatcher
The least flycatcher (''Empidonax minimus'') (also called chebec, or chebecker, after the sound it makes) is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest ''Empidonax'' flycatcher in eastern North America.
Taxonomy
The closest relative to the ...
(''Empidonax minimus'') is quite similar to the eastern wood pewee in plumage, but has a bold eye ring and much shorter primary projection, appearing rather blunt-winged. It also has a shorter bill and is smaller overall. The songs (''che-bec, che-bec'') and calls (a sharp ''whit'') are very different.
Distribution and habitat
Their breeding habitat is deciduous, mixed woods, or pine plantations in eastern
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. They
migrate
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, and in the Andes region of northern South America. They feed on insects and other arthropods. Wood pewees wait on a perch at a middle height in a tree and fly out to catch prey in flight, sometimes hovering to pick it from vegetation.
Eastern wood pewees arrive relatively late on breeding grounds (e.g., 18 May to 5 June in southern Ontario). They are rarely seen on their breeding grounds before the last days of April further south. They migrate south at a more usual time, leaving sometimes in late August but most often in September. Migration times have stayed the same in the last 100 years. They migrate quickly for most of the journey, dispersing and moving at a slower speed when approaching breeding or wintering range. For example, in the
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
which are offshore the winter quarters, the species is only rarely and briefly encountered, but passes through on its way north as early as mid-late February.
Behaviour
Breeding
The eastern wood pewee makes an open cup nest made of grasses, bark, and
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.oaks (''Quercus''), pines (''Pinus''), birches (''Betula''), and maples (''Acer''). The female lays almost always three (sometimes two) translucent-white eggs with brown flecking concentrated towards the larger end of the ovate egg. Males are territorial and defend the nesting area aggressively, often fighting with neighbouring conspecifics and even pursue attacks on other species (e.g., least flycatchers, American robins, chipping sparrows, red-eyed vireos, etc.). Males can sometimes be
polygynous
Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.
Incidence
Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any ...
, mating with two females, simultaneously.
The eggs hatch in 12–14 days and both parents bring food to the altricial nestlings. Nestlings typically fledge 15–17 days after hatching, often ending up on the ground during the first flight out of the nest. The adults will perch on a nearby branch and call out to the nestlings, keeping contact and providing them with food until the young are able to fly to join them.
Conservation status
The eastern wood pewee is common and widespread, and therefore not considered globally threatened by the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
. Its numbers, however, are declining in recent decades, possibly due to the loss of forest habitat in its winter range. It is also possible that the increase of white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus'') in its breeding range has led to a change in vegetation and associated invertebrates in the lower levels of the deciduous forests where the eastern wood pewee breeds.
File:Contopus virensPCCA20050724-9873B.jpg, Eastern wood pewee, has two crisp, pale wing bars and long primary projection
File:WesternWoodPewee23.jpg,
Western wood pewee
The western wood pewee (''Contopus sordidulus'') is a small tyrant flycatcher. Adults are gray-olive on the upperparts with light underparts, washed with olive on the breast. They have two wing bars and a dark bill with yellow at the base of the ...
looks like its sister species
File:Sayornis phoebe CT4.jpg,
Eastern phoebe
The eastern phoebe (''Sayornis phoebe'') is a small passerine bird. The genus name ''Sayornis'' is constructed from the specific part of Charles Lucien Bonaparte's name for Say's phoebe, ''Muscicapa saya'', and Ancient Greek ''ornis'', "bird". ...
lacks bolder wing bars and has shorter primary projection
File:Empidonax-minimus-001.jpg,
Least flycatcher
The least flycatcher (''Empidonax minimus'') (also called chebec, or chebecker, after the sound it makes) is a small insect-eating bird. It is the smallest ''Empidonax'' flycatcher in eastern North America.
Taxonomy
The closest relative to the ...
has bold eye-rings and shorter primary projection
References
External links
Eastern wood pewee – ''Contopus virens'' – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
– Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Bird sound - Florida Museum of Natural History
Familiar Birds
- Canadian Biodiversity website
Eastern wood pewee Environment Canada
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eastern wood pewee
The eastern wood pewee (''Contopus virens'') is a small tyrant flycatcher from North America. This bird and the western wood pewee (''C. sordidulus'') were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appearanc ...
eastern wood pewee
The eastern wood pewee (''Contopus virens'') is a small tyrant flycatcher from North America. This bird and the western wood pewee (''C. sordidulus'') were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appearanc ...
eastern wood pewee
The eastern wood pewee (''Contopus virens'') is a small tyrant flycatcher from North America. This bird and the western wood pewee (''C. sordidulus'') were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appearanc ...