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Eastern Wood-Pewee
 
Photos © Julia Flanagan; Magee Marsh, Ohio; Spring 2009
Eastern Wood-Pewee

Eastern Wood-Pewee
Contopus virens
Order - Passeriformesl Family - Tyrannidae

This small bird is named for its song: pee-wee. It is olive-brown-colored above, except for the white wing bars, and has a greenish breast and white undersides. Unlike some other flycatchers, it does not have a white eye ring, and the lower part of its bill is yellowish.

The Peewee lives in woodlands of the eastern US and Canada during the warmer months. It is fairly common in Northern Virginia, and will most likely be observed when it flies out from a perch on a tree limb to catch a flying insect or pluck one off a plant.

Its nest is cup-shaped, made of grass and usually placed on a branch of a deciduous tree such as an oak. The eggs are white to pale brown with more or less spotting.

Both parents feed and guard the young until they are capable of flight on their own. In the fall, these birds migrate to northern South America: they don’t return until the later part of spring..