Greater Pewee Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A medium-sized songbird with a fairly long tail, short, spiky crest, and long, pointed bill.

  Relative Size

  Larger than an Eastern Phoebe, smaller than a Western Kingbird.

  between sparrow and robin

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 7.1 in (18 cm)
    • Weight: 0.9 oz (27 g)

  © Jane Tillman / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Olive brown above, paler below (whitish or yellowish), with a wash of olive-brown on breast and sides, dark upper mandible contrasts with yellow-orange lower mandible, and pale wingbars.

• Behavior

  Forages by perching upright on a snag, usually high in a pine tree, and watching for passing insects, which it captures by aerial pursuit, then returns to the same hunting perch. Aggressively drives other birds and sometimes mammals away from its nest. 
• Habitat

  Breeds in pine and pine-oak woodlands in mountains, less often in adjacent stream and river areas in high elevations. Winters in similar habitats but also in lowlands with larger trees, especially riparian areas.