Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 5.5–6.3 in
14–16 cm - Wingspan
- 10.2 in
26 cm - Weight
- 0.4–0.5 oz
11–14 g
Other Names
- Pioui de l'Ouest (French)
- Pibí occidental (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- The Eastern and Western wood-pewees are very difficult to tell apart visually. Their breeding ranges overlap only in a very narrow zone in the Great Plains. Despite their similarity, no evidence has ever been found that the two species interbreed in that area.
- Because of the difficulty of separating Eastern from Western wood-pewees, and because some records of "wintering" pewees might refer to migrants, the exact wintering range of the Western Wood-Pewee is not known precisely.
- The Western Wood-Pewee makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.
Habitat
Open Woodland
Breeds in open woodlands, along forest edges, and in riparian woodlands. Winters in mature tropical forest.
Food
Insects
Flying insects, especially flies, ants, bees, wasps, beetles, moths, and bugs.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 1–5 eggs
- Egg Description
- Creamy white, wreathed with brown blotches and spots at widest point.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless and with some whitish down.
Nest Description
A shallow cup of woven grass bound together with spider webs and covered on outside with moss, bud scales, or insect puparia. Lined with hair or fine grass. Placed in fork of horizontal branch of tree.
Nest Placement
Tree
Behavior
Flycatching
Flies out from perch in middle part of understory to catch a flying insect and then returns to the same perch.
Conservation
Least Concern
Considered common, but experiencing a slow, steady decline throughout most of range. At risk from destruction of tropical forest wintering grounds.
Credits
- Bemis, C., and J. D. Rising. 1999. Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus). In The Birds of North America, No. 451 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.