Eastern Wood-Pewee
Contopus virens
Eastern Wood-Pewee · Central Park · 21 September 2025
An Eastern Wood-Pewee sitting upright and still on an exposed perch in Central Park in September, between short sallies after flying insects. It is a flycatcher of the eastern deciduous woods, and in September it is on its way from the New York forests to the Andes.
Plain grey-olive above and off-white below, with none of the strong markings that make most flycatchers easy to call. This one is really identified by voice and habit as much as plumage. The song is the name: a slow, plaintive "pee-a-wee" that carries through a summer wood long after most birds have stopped singing for the day.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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