id ae " Pas 
ig. 41. — Eastern wood pewee on its nest. Photo taken in Po 
but lacks a distinct eye-ring. 
ig. 42. — General distribution of the eastern wood pewee. The 
ned range may include large sections in which populations of the 
¢s are thin or even absent because of the nature of the terrain and 
ity of suitable habitat. 
pe County. Slightly larger than Empidonax flycatchers, this drab fl 
eo 
ycatcher has wing 
but in most years the arrival is first noted in early May 
(Smith 1930, Musselman 1921a). In northern Illinois 
Walter & Walter (1904), and Johnson (1936) recorded 
pewee arrivals on April 27 and 28, but the species is more 
often first detected after May 5 (Brodkorb 1926a, Bartel 
1932, Ford et al. 1934, Clark & Nice 1950). 
Our counts showed peaks in the spring population 
between May 8 and 18 in southern Illinois, May 20 and 26 
in central Illinois, and May 28 and June 3 in northwestern 
Illinois (Fig. 43). The spring migration probably extends 
into June even in southern Illinois. 
As in the case of the crested flycatcher, the spring 
population of the wood pewee was low in the northwest by 
comparison with those in central and southern Illinois. 
We did not see consistent differences in the spring 
populations of pewees between eastern and western 
Illinois, though our highest counts of this species, in 
contrast to the crested, tended to be in the east. 
Distribution 
The breeding range of the eastern wood pewee is the 
eastern half of the United States and adjacent southern 
Canada (Fig. 42). In Illinois the pewee almost certainly 
nests in every county, but actual nesting records are still 
lacking for some counties (Fig. 44). 
47 
