Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Wood Pewee

The wood pewee (Contopus virens) is in the flycatcher family. It acquires its food on the wing, characteristically eating flies of all types, wasps, bees, hornets, and beetles. Feeding takes place in open areas where the pewee sits in a high perch along the edge and feeds opportunistically on insects in the lower vegetation of shrubs, grassland, and young pioneer stands.

The pewee is a summer resident only. It winters in south Central America. In its northern range, pairs prefer beech stands. In warmer climes, pine is favored. The pairs need mature stands for nesting habitat. Nests are situated on large horizontal branches and resemble knots.

The pewee presents an interesting challenge to the wildlife manager. Feeding habitat must be early stage vegetation, while nesting is done in mature stands with a high degree of branching.

The following are suggestions and alternatives:

1. Ensure a long rotation period for logging practices. Long range planning is fundamental to provide proper nesting habitat required for a stable population.
2. Select stands for cutting to emphasize contrast in edge. Old, tall stands should be adjacent to the young stands or those in a short rotation.
3. Land managers also may wish to plant rapid growing market species such as poplar or white pine at contrasting edges where faster rotations are desired, and manage lower quality stands for increased branching.
4. Intensive managers should plant trees along fence rows, centers of wildlife clearings, and along roadsides to provide feeding perches.
5. Work for diversity. Timber monocultures may be economically profitable, but ecologically tragic.
6. Pewees eat flying insects. Avoid insecticide use at all costs.
7. Provide water. Fence off riparian areas, protect seeps and springs, and create waterholes if necessary.
8. Encourage trails and roads along contrasting edge for people to see birds feeding, as well as along watering areas along roads and footpaths to maximize human interaction with the wildlife.
9. Cordon off cats and dogs from major foraging areas to prevent predation.
10. Landowners should give consideration to cuts that open up tree spacing, This will promote branching needed for nest sites and provide foraging volumes.
11. Feeding stations with suet may be set up. Feeding stations are expensive to maintain, so this idea may be more suited to providing supplemental food during springs that are cold and wet, when young families need extra food.
12. Increased use or viewing by bird watchers can be encouraged. Monitoring results and reporting on new or alternative successes will be useful to others interested in managing this bird.
13. Having done the above, managers with the objective of maximizing or stabilizing wood pewee populations then must concentrate on overall improved land management in Central America.

A contribution of Walter Raynes (1992)
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0321

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.