Sat
May 17 2008
07:54 pm
Belated Bird Blogging
By: rikki

The eastern wood-peewee is a flycatcher. Like most local flycatchers, it is drab, but it has a sweet, plaintive whistle in two phrases, "peeeeaweee, peeahhh." It sits on open perches watching for insects, which it will attack in mid air. Occasionally it will drop to the ground for prey.

More photos after the break


Faint wing bars and a yellow lower bill are its only features; unfortunately it shares these same markings with several other small, drab flycatchers best distinguished by voice and habitat.


Its back is gray with just a tinge of green.


The dingy belly is slightly paler in the center and under the chin.

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bizgrrl's picture

How cute it is. Great day

Submitted by bizgrrl on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 5:57am.

How cute it is. Great day for bird pictures.

Tess's picture

High wire acts

Submitted by Tess on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 9:03am.

I see them sitting on the telephone lines out my way.

R. Neal's picture

Nice. Looks like they could

Submitted by R. Neal on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 9:08am.

Nice. Looks like they could be mistaken for a mockingbird if you don't see their tail. Will have to keep a closer eye on the mockingbirds.

rikki's picture

could be mistaken for a

Submitted by rikki on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 5:29pm.

could be mistaken for a mockingbird

Nah, they are about half the size of a mocker, and they are much more of a woodland bird, where mockers like scrub and yards. I suppose you could mistake a photo of peewee for a photo of a mocker, but the actual beasts behave so differently you wouldn't mix them up.

They could be easily mistaken for a phoebe!

Pam Strickland's picture

Thanks, Rikki. I really

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 1:47pm.

Thanks, Rikki. I really appreciate what I learn from all the bird people on this blog.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

WhitesCreek's picture

Phoebe's are all over my

Submitted by WhitesCreek on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 8:48pm.

Phoebe's are all over my yard and nest under the deck on the ledges. I've thrown out a cow bird egg that I watched invade the nest. It was easy to pick out being so much large than the others.

Now I need some help with an ID. I think this is a blue gray Gnat catcher. Let me know what you think.

rikki's picture

That's the correct ID.

Submitted by rikki on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 9:05pm.

That's the correct ID. That's a fine photo, too. "Hyper" would certainly be part of that bird's description, along with "tiny," so getting a photo is a real challenge.

Andy Axel's picture

Saw one of those a couple of

Submitted by Andy Axel on Sun, 2008/05/18 - 10:39pm.

Saw one of those a couple of years ago over at Radnor Lake.

Tiny is right. Those suckers aren't much bigger than my thumb.

____________________________

"It's gettin' so a businessman can't expect no return from a fixed fight. Now, if you can't trust a fix, what can you trust?"

Mello's picture

My red, white and blue bird

Submitted by Mello on Mon, 2008/05/19 - 8:13am.

My sons have been catching glimpses of an odd bird all week. From a red bird with white on its wings to hey! it has a blue head! to wow! It has blue on its back! and always with the comment no, it is not in the Peterson Guide! Finally the guys informed me that it seems to be hanging out with a gang of cardinals...

(link...)

Not sure where this entry should go on my life list.

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