18 Nebraskaland • July 2020
IN THE FIELD
Sitting among friends and family at a wooded campground
is a great way to spend time during the summer. It is also an
opportunity to hear the simple song of a wood-pewee if you
pause from the conversation and listen closely.
Wood-pewees are drab brown, tyrant flycatchers closely
related to the more visible and sharply-colored eastern and
western kingbirds. Like their kingbird cousins, there is also
an eastern and a western wood-pewee. Unlike the kingbirds,
which both occur statewide, the wood-pewees are mostly
divided by the eastern and western portions of the state.
In other words, which wood-pewee's song you're hearing
depends on where your campground is located.
Prior to European settlement, the two wood-pewees'
ranges were disjunct. Eastern wood-pewee were breeders
in the woodlands of the east and western wood-pewees
were restricted to the limited forested lands of the west,
such as the Pine Ridge. As woodland vegetation spread,
especially along major river corridors such as the Platte,
each wood-pewee expanded their range toward the center of
the state. Now, these two species' breeding ranges narrowly
overlap in central Nebraska and this has led to instances of
hybridization between the wood-pewees.
The two wood-pewees appear nearly identical. They are
best distinguished from one another by voice and by range.
The eastern wood-pewee's song is a plaintive whistled "pee-
a-wee." The western wood-pewee's song is similar but the
latter syllable is downslurred and sounds like "pzzeeyeer."
Mercifully, wood-pewees tend to sing at all hours of the day,
so you won't have to get up at the crack of dawn on your
camping trip to hear one. All wood-pewees prey on insects
which they typically catch in mid-air by making short
flights from a favored perch. Wood-pewees are a Neotropical
migrant, arriving in a majority of the United States by May,
and they winter primarily in South America once breeding
has finished in August.
So while you enjoy those long summer days, take a moment
to add the simple songs of the wood-pewees to your outdoor
soundtrack.
Visit birdsofnebraska.org for more Nebraska bird information.
By Joel Jorgensen
NEBRASKA'S WOOD-PEWEES
PHOTO
BY
JUSTIN
HAAG
