“The rush of warblers has mainly passed now, but the last of the blackpolls are marching through, and the northern thrushes, the oliveback and the graycheek, the rear guard of the migration, are hiding in the shadows. It is as this time of the year, when spring is in full bloom, when the countryside is brilliant green and the forest leaves are almost summer size, that the wood pewee calmly takes his place among the big trees of our woodlands, the shade trees of our streets, even in our gardens. His slow, sweet, quiet three-note song tells us that he is here, hidden among the leaves, although the bird remains for the most part so high up in the thick foliage that we may not catch a glimpse of him for weeks unless we look sharply”.
contributed species account by Winsor Marrett Tyler, Bent 1942).
The Eastern Wood-Pewee, the most common nesting forest flycatcher in Ohio, is described as a seclusive, peace-loving little bird that prefers to perch on the dead branches amid the gloom of the forest. Found in all 88 Ohio counties (Rodewald et al 2016), it is a fairly common to common summer resident throughout the state. It is found in nearly all types of woodlands from large mature forests to small woodlots and parks, preferring areas with openings in the canopy and understory. This habitat structure presumably aids their ability to hunt flying insects from open and hidden perches. Wood-Pewees often perch still on a dead branch within these woodlands waiting for a small insect to fly through, then suddenly darts out capturing the insect while in flight, or on the wing, and then quickly circles back to its perch (a technique often referred to as “fly catching or hawking”). Wood-Pewees eat a variety of insects mainly consisting of flies, wasps, beetles, small moths, and bugs. Most of their prey is very small; therefore, they seem to need to consume a fairly large quantity of insects. In fact, while studying the food preferences of flycatchers for the Department of Agriculture in 1912, Foster E.L. Beal criticized the food preferences of the Wood-Pewee noting “that it eats too many parasitic Hymenoptera (wasps) (Bent, 1942); presumably owing to the fact that these wasps prey on a variety of harmful agriculture insects. He went on to note that the “bird does far more good than harm” as it also ate a variety of harmful insects.
The Eastern Wood-Pewee belongs to the Flycatcher Family and specifically the Tyrant Flycatchers. The family consists of 35 species in North America and approximately 375 species worldwide. The Eastern Wood Pewee scientific name, Contopus virens, is derived from Greek kontos meaning short and pous for foot referring to the short tarsus; the portion of the leg that extends from the ankle to up the leg to the first joint. The specific name virens is from Latin and means “greenish” describing the olive-gray colors of the upper parts. Pewees have two noticeable white wing-bars on each wing as well as a yellow lower mandible. The underparts are usually white but pale yellow can show in some individuals.
Their unmistakable song is often one of the first one may hear in warm, summer mornings and one of the last in the evenings. The song paraphrased “pee-a-wee” with a short break then a descending “pee-oh” is often sang repetitively from its perch. It may take a break, catch a flyby snack, and then continue singing.
As mentioned earlier, most birds arrive in the spring during the first week of May; however, records exist for birds arriving between April 18 and 25. Fall migration begins during the last half of August and they remain common through the third week of September. A few birds will linger into early October; however, most individuals have departed by October 15. While there are a few reports of November individuals, there are currently no accepted November records for Ohio (Peterjohn, 2001; Harlan 2022).
The Eastern Wood-Pewee is nearly identical in all visual aspects to its western counterpart, the Western Wood-Pewee, and can only be distinguished by song. Some range does overlap occur in western Nebraska north into very southern and western Manitoba. While hybridization is extremely rare, some evidence suggests that hybrids were found northeastern Colorado based on vocalizations. Others also found evidence of hybridization in Nebraska where habitat contact zones occurred between the two species (Silcock and Jorgensen, 2022).
References:
Bent, Arthur Cleveland. 1964. Life Histories of North American Flycatchers, Larks, Swallows, and Their Allies. Dover Publications Inc., New York. 244p + plates. pp. 266-279.
Harlan, Robert N. 2022. Ohio Bird Records Committee Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio 65 p.
Meiter, Gary H. 2020. Bird is the Word, An Historical Perspective on the Names of North American Birds. McDonald Woodward Publishing. Newark, Ohio p 237.
Peterjohn, Bruce G. 2001. Birds of Ohio. The Wooster Book Company. Wooster, Ohio. pp. 306-307.
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2022. Western x Eastern Wood-Pewee (hybrid) (Contopus sordidulus x virens). In Birds of Nebraska — Online.
Terres, John K. 1980. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Alford Knopf. New York.
John Watts is a retired Resource Manager, Columbus Metro Parks, and a member of the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association (ONAPA) Board Advisory Committee. This article is republished here by kind permission of ONAPA. All photos by John Watts.