Western wood-pewee

Contopus sordidulus

Photo by Jim Stuart (New Mexico Ornithological Society)

Common name:
western wood-pewee (en); piui-ocidental (pt); pioui de l'Ouest (fr); pibí occidental (es); westlicher waldschnäppertyrann (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Tyrannidae

Range:
This species breeds in western North America, from Alaska and north-western Canada to Mexico and along Central America down to Honduras. They migrate south to winter in north-western Venezuela, western Colombia and along the Andean slopes of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

Size:
These birds are 14-16 cm long and have a wingspan of 26 cm. They weigh 11-14 g.

Habitat:
They mostly breed in open temperate forests, but also in boreal forests, especially along forest edges and in riparian areas. They winter in moist tropical forests. They are found at altitudes of 900-3.000 m.

Diet:
They feed on flying insects, including flies, ants, bees, wasps, beetles, moths, and bugs.

Breeding:
The western wood-pewee breeds in May-July. They are seasonally monogamous and nest on a
shallow cup of woven grass bound together with spider webs and covered on outside with moss, bud scales, or insect puparia. The nest is lined with hair or fine grass and placed in a fork on a tree. The female lays 2-4 creamy-white eggs with brown blotches, which  she incubates alone for 12-13 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 14-18 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range and the global population is estimated at 7,8 million individuals. The population has undergone a small decrease over the last 4 decades but is not threatened.