About Contopus virens (Linnaeus, 1766)
The eastern wood pewee (Contopus virens) measures 13.5–15 cm (5.3–5.9 in) in length, weighs approximately 14 g (0.49 oz), and has a wingspan ranging from 9.1–10.2 in (23–26 cm). Males and females have identical plumage. Adult eastern wood pewees have gray-olive upperparts and pale underparts, with an olive tint to the breast. Each wing features two pale wing bars, and the primary flight feathers are long, which gives the wingtip a slender, very pointed shape. The upper half of the bill is dark, while the lower half is yellowish. Its songs are typically a series of mournful whistled pee-a'wee notes (which gave the species its common name) and a "pe-wee" call with a rising note at the end. The breeding habitat of the eastern wood pewee is deciduous forests, mixed forests, or pine plantations in eastern North America. This species migrates to wintering grounds in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Andes region of northern South America. Eastern wood pewees feed on insects and other arthropods. They hunt by waiting on a perch at middle height in a tree, then flying out to catch prey mid-flight; they sometimes hover to pick prey off vegetation. Eastern wood pewees arrive relatively late to their breeding grounds. For example, they arrive between 18 May and 5 June in southern Ontario, and are rarely seen on breeding grounds further south before the last days of April. They depart for southern migration at a more typical time, occasionally leaving in late August, but most often departing in September. Migration timing for this species has not changed over the last 100 years. They travel quickly for most of their migration journey, then disperse and move more slowly when they get close to their breeding or wintering ranges. For example, the species is only rarely and briefly sighted in the Cayman Islands, which are offshore from its winter quarters, but it passes through the area on its northward migration as early as mid-late February.
