A familiar noise from the woods for much of the summer and early fall in Wisconsin is the distinctive pee-a-wee of the Eastern Wood-Pewee. Often heard before being seen, this bird can be somewhat difficult to visually distinguish from other flycatchers. However, they’re grayer than most other species and they have distinctly long wings, faint wingbars, and lack an eyering. Pewees don’t hesitate to sing throughout much of the day, so tracing one’s call to the midstory where they’re likely perched on a bare twig or branch is a good way to locate them. What may sound to us like a charming and familiar call could also be considered a sort-of battle cry, as the pewee calls to establish territory during the breeding season, which typically runs from mid-May into August. Creating nests of lichen, grass and bark at the notches of horizontal branches, pewees are quick to chase off loitering woodland birds of various species.
Eastern Wood-Pewee with young. The nest is built from lichens and mosses (photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren).
Pewees can often be seen perching on dead or bare branches in the middle canopy, both calling and silently waiting then performing short, darting flights to and from these branches to catch insects. They feed primarily on flying insects such as moths, butterflies, flies, wasps and beetles, and will sometimes hover to pick grasshoppers or crickets off of foliage. Different species of flycatchers seem to know their lane in the woods and stay in it, as pewees often stick to the midstory of the woods, as Least and Acadian Flycatchers take up lower, and Great Crested Flycatchers tend to feed highest in the canopy.
Eastern Wood-Pewees seem particularly fond of edge spaces, and can often be heard calling from the treelines and openings in the woods at Faville Grove Sanctuary. Their consistent calls keep us company throughout the summer and into early fall as we sweep through the woods looking for invasive plants to remove or native plant seeds to collect.
The pewees have quieted down as of late as many have begun their migration southward. I’ve still been hearing some pee-a-wees from the woods though, and look forward to hearing them pick back up when the time comes once again to claim their section of the midstory.
Written by Tucker Sanborn, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward
Cover photo via Pixabay. An Eastern Wood-Pewee perches on a midstory branch in a woodland area.
