Adults

Description

Size:  6.25”

Plumage/Description:  A very plain, non-descript species.  Beginning birders find it very challenging to identify this and other flycatcher species.  The best identifying feature is the Western Wood-Pewee’s distinctive call.  Overall a plain, gray bird, with two faint wing-bars and a pale yellow wash on the belly.

Habitat:  Ponderosa/ Coniferous

Time of year:  Spring, Summer

Relative Abundance:  Common in the appropriate habitat

Behavior:  Pewees are in the flycatcher family.  Their behavior is characterized by patiently sitting on a branch, or other open exposed locations and waiting for insects to pass by.  Fairly solitary.

Diet:  Insects

Similar species:  Greater Pewee, Empidonax Flycatchers

Best Sites:  Granite Basin, Lynx Lake, Goldwater Lake, above 6,000 feet in the Bradshaw Mountains, Mingus Mountain.