PEWEE VS. PHOEBE

Eastern Wood-Pewee, Mines of Spain, Dubuque, Iowa, Sep 06, 2025

Today I came across an Eastern Wood-Pewee while making a brief visit to the Mines of Spain Recreation area. Not an unusual sighting and these little flycatchers are not difficult to spot when they perch on a branch and dive down to catch insects midair or sometimes on the ground. They often return to the same perch, a fact every photographer may like.

Two weeks ago I photographed an Eastern Phoebe, right here in our woods, and that gives me the opportunity to show you how much alike these two flycatcher species look. So how to tell them apart? Here are a few details that may help.

  • The Eastern Phoebe has a dark bill, while pewees have a yellow or orange base of their lower mandible, which is very good visible in these two photos.

  • The Eastern Phoebe pumps its tail (the pewee doesn’t). That can help identification if you see for instance the bird just as a silhouette against the sky.

  • The two wing bars are less distinct on a phoebe, while they are almost white on a pewee.

  • And last but not least, if you hear the distinctive ”pee-ah-whee” song before you even see the bird, you certainly know that an Eastern Wood-Pewee is in the neighborhood.

Eastern Phoebe, Little Maquoketa Valley, Iowa, Aug 23, 2025

NATURE CLICKS #611 - EASTERN PHOEBE

Eastern Phoebe, Maplewood State Park, Minnesota

Eastern Phoebes winter further north than most other flycatchers and they are one of the earliest returning birds after the cold season. Many of the pictures in my library were made in April, some even in the month of March, over the years. Having a pair of phoebes in front of the lens during their breeding time was finally a wonderful experience last month in Maplewood State Park, Minnesota.

I photographed for the first time from a stationary blind, a cabin-like structure above a pond in the woods. While watching the birds on this little lake below the hill was quite interesting, the distance was a bit to long for decent photos. Instead many song birds in the surrounding trees gave me plenty of opportunities for a good shot. The back side of the blind was open and all what I had to do was turning around for the show a pair of Eastern Phoebes gave me during one evening and the next morning. Light, color, and the gestures of these flycatchers made for two great shooting events and it was hard to select a picture for today’s blog post… (I wished I could say that all the time I publish a photo 😉)

NATURE CLICKS #567 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

Eastern Wood-Pewee, Bankston County Park, Iowa

It is pretty quiet in the woods already. Most birds are done with their breeding activities. Even the Eastern Wood-Pewee I saw today didn’t make its distinktive sounds. I consider the wood-pewee as a ”photographer friendly” bird. They prefer to perch on bare twigs, which makes it easy to take a picture. From there the pewee darts out to catch passing insects. Sometimes they return even to the same branch.

The low sitting sun this evening was shining through the trees in the background, leaving no doubt about that this photo was made in the summer time. Bankston Park is mainly a small wooded valley here in the driftless area of eastern Iowa. It’s steep slopes are formed by the Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, a clear stream that is popular by anglers for trout fishing. Along the small river are plenty of insects and a flycatcher, like the Eastern Wood-Pewee, has no problems to find enough food.

NATURE CLICKS #565 - GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER

Great Crested Flycatcher, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Here is still a shot from our wildlife watching trip last weekend. This opportunity came up actually at the very end but it made me very happy. It’s not very often that we see a Great Crested Flycatcher. This bird is not difficult to identify due to its yellow belly.

Much of the landscape was already in the shade but the low sitting sun touched the bird just nicely. The Great Crested Flycatcher is the only eastern flycatcher that nests in cavities, like woodpecker holes. With most of the trees in the Green Island Wetlands disappearing and dying after years of high water levels I wonder what its future will be. I accidentally didn’t have the zoom lens extended to its maximum of 600 mm and decided finally to crop the photo a bit.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,   @ 490 mm, 1/1600 s, f/8, ISO 500

NATURE CLICKS #535 - EASTERN PHOEBE

Eastern Phoebe, Little Maquoketa River Valley, Eastern Iowa

A couple nights ago some frost came along, making for a chilly Saturday morning. It did not stop me to go out with the camera when I saw the movements of a flycatcher in the front yard. The bird turned out to be an Eastern Phoebe, a species I haven’t seen in a while. More often the phoebe is present here in spring and I believe I photographed it for the first time in the fall. There is a similar looking flycatcher around during the summer, the Eastern Wood-Pewee, but they migrate much further to South America, and the pewee left some time ago already. The Eastern Phoebe spends the winter in southeast North America and Central America.

I’m not the only one who calls this “killer light”, when a slightly muted sun in crisp fall air hits the scene. I had a great time sitting on the porch, sipping on a hot cup of coffee, and shooting away with the long lens and 1.4 teleconverter attached to the camera. The Eastern Phoebe is a lovely bird to watch. They pump their tail up and down while sitting on a perch (a pewee doesn’t do that). and look out for insects. As the air warmed up fast in the morning, the phoebe caught most of its prey just above the grass below. We may think, it’s cold, no insects, but the birds know where to find and how to feed on them.

NATURE CLICKS #521 - EASTERN KINGBIRD

Eastern Kingbird, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

I made a quick trip to the Green Island Wetlands this evening and came home with this photo of an Eastern Kingbird. This wasn’t an easy shot due to some strong wind. The Eastern Kingbird is not as skittish as many other birds and it gave me plenty of time to make a number of clicks. But its perch swayed in the wind unpredictable and made focussing a bit of a challenge. This large flycatcher hunts mostly for insects. It defends its breeding territory vigorously against other kingbirds. During winter, down south at the Amazon, this bird has a different lifestyle. They move around in flocks and the diet consists of fruits.

I tried to position myself so I had some open water behind the bird. Some growing reeds were far enough away to blur nicely and made for an undisturbing background.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG,    @ 850 mm, 1/640 s, f/9, ISO 640

NATURE CLICKS #510 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

Yesterday we were treated with a nice performance of an Eastern Wood-Pewee, feeding two juveniles in our front yard. This small flycatcher is present every year in our woods but I have never seen more than one at a time. Their song, a slurred “pee-ah-wee” or their call, a shrill “p-e-e-e-e-e-“ makes it easy to locate them between the leaves.

They sally out from an exposed perch to capture flies, bees, butterflies, wasps, and beetles and often return to the same perch. This makes it more predictable for the photographer. We had some rain and the adult pewee found plenty of insects near the ground for its offspring.

Juvenile Eastern Wood-Pewee

Another flycatcher, the Eastern Phoebe, looks very similar, but the pewee has a yellow base on its lower mandible while the phoebe’s bill is all dark. Another way to distinguish the two species is looking at their behavior on the perch. The Eastern Phoebe pumps its tail and the wing bars are less distinctive.

NATURE CLICKS #492 - EASTERN PHOEBE (AND UPDATE ON OTHER MIGRATORY BIRDS)

Eastern Phoebe, Mississippi River, Finley’s Landing, Iowa

The Eastern Phoebe is usually the first of the flycatcher family that arrives here in spring. My records show that some years I have them photographed already in late March. Today I had a pair in front of the lens, the first ones I saw in 2021. The phoebe catches insects mid-air, flying out from atop low tree branches and other perches. They are easy to identify with their black bill, legs, and feet and when perched they wag their tail in characteristic motion.

The Eastern Phoebe wasn’t the only bird that showed up since yesterday. Last night I heard an Eastern Whip-poor-will down in the valley. This morning the first House Wren started singing and probably inspecting the bird boxes, and later the first Rose-breasted Grosbeak arrived from South America.

Despite a gray cloud cover I drove down to the Green Island Wetlands this evening and found four different sandpiper species. About two dozen Pectoral Sandpipers, 15 Lesser and probably 2 Greater Yellowlegs, and for the second time since 2018 a number of Dunlins. Not close enough for a frame filling photo, but sometimes we have to accept that relaxing and watching the birds is more joyful than trying to make a picture when there is not really a picture opportunity present…

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 600 mm, 1/1000 s, f/6.3, ISO200

FLYCATCHER IDENTIFICATION

Least Flycatcher

The identification of small flycatchers is not very easy in my humble opinion, although we have more tools for identification to our disposal than ever. I have three apps on my phone and the number of printed bird guides in our home library has increased over the years. If you think my selection is not correct, please let me know. I always value the input of other birders, photographers, and nature lovers.

This photo was made earlier this week in Bankston County Park. I made a few more with different poses of the flycatcher that helped with identification, but this one I liked the best.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head,   @ 600 mm, 1/1000 s, f/6.3, ISO 400, photo cropped

NATURE CLICKS #442 - TREE SWALLOWS

Tree Swallow, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

It was a great day for bird watching in the wetlands today. Many more ducks were present than during my last visit two weeks ago. And there were quite a few bird lovers out there, everybody in their car and with binoculars or cameras sticking out the window. I saw a lot Blue-winged Teals, Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Northern Shovelers, and one pair of Green-winged Teals. I also got information about a Cinnamon Teal, but I was not able to locate the bird. It would have been a “first” for me in the Green Island Wetlands. In addition the first flycatchers have arrived and I saw an Eastern Phoebe and a Kingbird.

We had still some frost last night but the sun this morning heated up the air very quickly. This brought out the insects and large groups of Tree Swallows tried to catch them. They used the shrubs along the edge of the water to perch and to rest for brief moments. The Tree Swallows return to their nesting grounds earlier than any other American swallow. The ones I saw today were probably just on their way through. Their summer habitat stretches as far as northern Canada.

The warm air above the cold water created quite a bit of heat shimmer again. I was shocked how much it effected the sharpness today. Although the light was crisp and many bird species provided good contrast, normally easy to focus on, but my keeper rate was not very good.

DEPENDING ON INSECTS

Eastern Wood-Pewee, Mississippi River, Mud Lake Marina, Iowa

I have been out of town for a few days but I guess I didn’t miss much in regards of wildlife photography. It was rainy and cold here. It warmed up today and this evening, after my return, I took our dog for a much needed exercise down to the Mississippi River. The water level is almost back to normal and Mud Lake Park is open again. Some dirt and debris is still evidence from the recent weeks of flooding.

The month of May was relatively cold overall and I had already concerns about the many flycatchers species, who spend the summer here and depend so much on flying insects. It was nice to see an Eastern Wood-Pewee, catching insects mid-air. Knowing the feeding and foraging habits of birds has helped me many times to find them. The pewee was very busy between the stranded logs the river had left along the shore he and returned quite often to the same perch after catching an insect. I used the car for cover and after getting the MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender out of the bag my results improved while the sun was hiding behind a cloud.

NATURE CLICKS #414 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

My prediction about the departure of the young House Wrens from the nest I made yesterday was correct. Early this morning, still at dawn, the mother called them repeatedly and at 7:30AM the gourd with the nest inside was empty. We wish them well and can’t wait until next spring when the first males arrive back from the south. Our nest boxes will be ready again for another nesting season.

While I took the pictures of the young wrens yesterday afternoon another summer guest showed up in our front yard. We can hear the distinctive song “pee-ah-wee” and the calls “pe-e-e-e-e-e” of the Eastern Wood-Pewee all summer long. This small flycatcher feeds on flying insects, like flies, bees, butterflies, wasps, or beetles. They start mostly from an exposed perch to capture their prey in midair but take occasionally insects from vegetation or the ground. Most of the time they sit too high on a perch for a good photo but yesterday the pewee used briefly one of our shepherd hooks that holds a bird feeder. Pretty soon this bird will also head south to the tropics, where it spends the time during our cold season.

NATURE CLICKS #385 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

It has been over two months since my last visit in the Green Island Wetlands, down south where the Maquoketa River meets the mighty Mississippi, but last weekend I finally was able to get back to this location, which is a favorite since a long time. This is not prime season for a wildlife photographer in this area. Duck hunting season has opened and the gravel road on top of a levee that goes through the actual wildlife refuge is closed, which itself is a good thing. However, all together it limits the chances to make a good click for those who hunt with the camera in hand. As you can imagine there wasn’t a single piece of waterfowl on the water but with a little patience and open eyes you still can find photo opportunities. Beside pelicans, eagles, egrets, herons, and swallows I saw at least two warblers and this Eastern Wood-Pewee. I cropped the image a little bit because there was a body of water between me and the bird and getting closer was not an option. Pretty soon this flycatcher will migrate to the northern part of South America.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 600 mm (DX mode), 1/80 s, f/6.3, ISO200

NATURE CLICKS #377 - EASTERN KINGBIRDS

I just returned from a 4-days business trip to St. Paul and Duluth, Minnesota. As always, I took the camera gear with me but a densely packed schedule did not leave any spare time to get the camera out of the bag. So, today’s image is still from last weekend.

It payed back to visit a spot in the Green Island marshes where I had seen an Eastern Kingbird, a large flycatcher, last year and so it wasn’t a big surprise to find a pair of Kingbirds in the same area again. Love was in the air between the two birds and I had some good opportunities to make a click. There was some water between us and the birds and the only way to get it right in camera was to use the DX crop mode (900 mm lens equivalent). 

NATURE CLICKS #348 - SAY’S PHOEBE (FIRST SIGHTING!)

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ----------

I have reported and showed pictures several times over the years of the Eastern Phoebe, the only phoebe in North America that lives in the eastern part of the continent. Back in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, California last Sunday I saw for the first time in my life a Say’s Phoebe. Most of my photos were shot with the bird perched on a barbed wire fence, closer than this picture, but I really like this shot because of light, background, and gesture. Like the Eastern Phoebe the Say’s flies from a perch to catch insects, like many other flycatchers. The bird is not difficult to identify and I was very happy about my encounter, but wait, there was another one…, well, this is for my next blog post. So please stay tuned…