Friday’s Feathered Friends- Western Wood Peewee

Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered Friends, PhotographyTagged , , , , , ,

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared this bird before. This is an image I made last summer.

Western Wood Peewee

Fun Facts:

  • The breeding ranges of the nearly identical Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees overlap only in a very narrow zone in the Great Plains. Despite the birds’ physical similarity, no evidence has ever been found that the two species interbreed in that area—perhaps because their songs sound so different.
  • Where exactly the Western Wood-Pewee goes in the winter is still a mystery. Both Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees migrate to northern South America, but because they look so similar and they don’t call much on the wintering ground it’s hard to say for certain where each species spends its winter.
  • The scientific name of the Western Wood-Pewee is Contopus sordidulus. Contopus comes from the Greek word kontos which means short and pous which means foot—referring to the relatively short legs on Contopus flycatchers. Sordidulus means dirty or unkempt, a reference to the dusky brown wash to the breast and flanks.
  • The Western Wood-Pewee makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.
  • The oldest recorded Western Wood-Pewee was a female, and at least 8 years, 1 month old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2002. She had been banded in the same state in 1995.
  • Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4| PS CC

We’ve been under a high wind and storm watch since yesterday morning. As I write this the wind is howling at 24 mph with gusts up to 47 mph. They’re saying we may get 8 inches of snow between now and Saturday. The sun is out, the clouds are big white and fluffy in some spots to the east but, gray and looming over the Sierras to the west. As you can imagine we’re hanging out at home.

I was planning to go birding with a local birding group this morning, but due to the weather that’s been rescheduled.

I’ve been re-watching The Expanse while waiting for the new season of Vera to be released on Wednesday. After I finish The Expanse I’ll be binge watching Vera if all the episodes are available, and I’m still working my way through the Woodlands and Trees Ready to Paint class in a book. I finished exercise 6 but, the little wood bridge over the creek came out really wonky…even more wonky than my normal wonky so, I’m on my second attempt with that one, and I mixed up a dark green shade of paint that I don’t like on this second pass, so they’ll probably be a 3rd attempt at mastering exercise #6. 😀

That’s me all caught up. What’s happening with you?

more to come…

42 thoughts on “Friday’s Feathered Friends- Western Wood Peewee”

  1. Pingback: Reader Favorites 2024 – Circadianreflections Blog

  4. Great capture of the Peewee and informative fact about it. We get a lot of wind at the speeds you got with your wind, but I am thankful we don’t get the snow, and the cold. I hope you didn’t do too bad on the snow over the last couple days. Sounds like you are having fun with hobbies, 🙂.

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  5. Looks like you have quite a lot going on. I hope the storm was kind to you. It sounds like there’s some awful weather on the west side of the Sierras.

    The bird capture is lovely, and the facts are appreciated. Good luck with that painting.

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    1. Tahoe and the foothills on the west side got it worse than we did. So far only 4 inches of snow here. It’s still lightly snowing and the wind comes and goes but, all in all not too bad.
      I’m glad you liked the bird image and the facts. Thanks for the support on the painting. There’s going to be a 3rd one. 😀
      I hope you guys are having a good week-end!

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    1. Thank you so much, Judy! I think you’ll like Vera.
      I’m still doing a lot tutorials, and practicing so haven’t done many original paintings or drawings but, I hope to find “the artist in me” somewhere in this process so I can. It’s just taking a bloody long time.

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  10. I think we are alll experiencing really crazy weather this year, which generally has put limits on our birding, as well as reduced the bird numbers locally. Your Peewee is quite different to ours which is known as a Magpie-lark. I think ours gets its name from its call: ‘Pee wee pee wee’. We also love Vera and have seen some of a new series over a month ago, we are hoping they will do more, maybe they have. Hope the weather improves Deborah.

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  12. Hi Deborah. Very nice photo! I left a comment earlier but don’t see it, so hopefully this is not a repeat. Trying to get set up on here. 🤪. Good day to hunker down and watch the feeder frenzy during storm intervals.

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    1. Thank you, Jarlath! The Sparrows have been wiping out a block of suet a day for a all month! I just restocked and need to go out and put out some more. A Sharp-shinned was on my fence this morning hoping for a Sparrow breakfast I think. I scared it when I moved so they were saved for a little while at least.

      Stay warm and dry today!

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  15. Really nice photo Deborah! So fun when hear and see them on our bird hikes. Would love to see some of your your paintings. I bet they are lovely.

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  16. I like that there still are some mysteries in the natural world, like the question of where these birds go in winter. The feathers on this one’s head look like sheared velvet; it’s really a cute bird despite the absence of vibrant color.

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  19. I like the name of the Peewee and I like it as well him/her looking like it got just out of bed. 🙂 Wonderful picture Deborah. So, still winter in your region! Over here we have very soft and wet weather, although now the sun is out, something we haven’t seen for, it seems, 95 years. Really old folks remember the golden light coming from the sky. 🙂 So you got Vera too? The grumpy English lady with her hat, or grumpy, maybe it’s sadness. I will tell my wife there’s a new series coming up! (She is the tv watcher in our house. 🙂 )

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    1. Isn’t it a cute name. I like it too.

      Yes, I get Vera but, I subscribe to BritBox to get a lot of my European favorites. Vera is cranky but, she gets the job done. Tell your wife Aiden is back this season and the first episode is interesting. I won’t spoil it for her. I can’t binge watch the whole season they’re going to roll out a new episode weekly.
      I like Van der Valk too. I am looking forward to this summer’s season 3 release!

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