Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) lives in eastern deciduous forests across North America. It feeds on insects and spiders. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Eastern Wood-Pewee
- A tiny flyer, the eastern wood pewee measures just 13.5-15 cm long and tips the scales at about 14 g. Its wings stretch 23-26 cm. These dimensions match the bird's average 150 mm length and 14.1 g mass recorded in detailed studies. It can hover briefly to pluck prey from foliage.
- Eastern wood pewees are the latest arrivals of the breeding season, often not seen until the last days of April and sometimes as late as early June in places like southern Ontario. Their migration window is tight: they leave breeding grounds in late August, with most departures in September, and have kept the same timing for a century. In the Cayman Islands they are only a fleeting February passage before heading north.
- The pewee builds its cup nest high up in trees, attaching it to a horizontal branch with spider silk. Nest sites range from 4.6 m to 18.3 m above ground, averaging about 9.1 m. Common hosts include oaks, pines, birches and maples. The female lays three translucent-white eggs, each incubated for 12-14 days, and the chicks fledge after 15-17 days, often taking their first flight from the ground.
- Male eastern wood pewees sometimes hold more than one mate at once, a behavior known as polygyny. Studies show males may feed nestlings in both nests simultaneously. Females can also double-brood, starting a second clutch after the first fledges. This flexible breeding strategy boosts the total number of offspring a pair can produce in a single season.
- In the wild, eastern wood pewees can live up to 8.2 years, a respectable span for a small passerine. Their territories during breeding cover 2.2 ha in Iowa and 7.7 ha in Wisconsin, equivalent to 22,000-77,000 m² of forest. Maintaining these territories is vital; loss of forest habitat in wintering grounds and overabundant white-tailed deer that thin understory vegetation have been linked to recent population declines.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeNorth America
HabitatEastern deciduous forests
DietInsects and spiders
About the Eastern Wood-Pewee
As the sun rises over the deciduous forests of North America, the Eastern Wood-Pewee stirs to life, its gentle, whistled song echoing through the trees like a soft breeze. With a subtle flutter of its wings, this unassuming flycatcher takes to the air, its agile form darting between the leafy branches with effortless ease, ever vigilant for the insects that form the staple of its diet. In its quiet, unobtrusive way, the Eastern Wood-Pewee is a master of its domain, a testament to the beauty and resilience of life in the forest's hidden corners.
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