gl NORTH 
AUG SEP OCT 
= CENTRAL 
30 
SOUTH 
20 
es WEST 
10 
oe 50 9 Reh ade) =) 19 
AUG Set OCT 
vers. Shaded areas show span of dates during which egg laying has 
recorded. 
EASTERN WOOD PEWEE 
BREEDING RECORDS 
NESTS OR YOUNG cae 
@ 1950 — 
A 1900-1949 
M BEFORE 1900 
PAIRS OR SINGING 
MALES (JUNE) 
O 1950 — 
A\ 1900 — 1949 
QO) BEFORE 1900 
Fig. 44. — Breeding records for the eastern wood pewee in Illinois. 
Nesting Habitats and Populations 
The eastern wood pewee is a forest and forest edge 
species, foraging especially in openings in the lower edge 
of or just below the lower tree canopy. Impressions as to 
the precise characteristics of the habitat have varied 
widely. Barnes (1890) and Gates (1911), both working 
near the Illinois River, and Fawver (19476) near the 
Sangamon River, all considered bottomland forest to be 
the primary habitat for pewees, while Hankinson (1915) 
in Coles County and Ries & Werner (1946) near the 
Illinois River considered upland forest to be the favorite 
habitat. Fawver (1947a) and Carpenter (1935) considered 
the wood pewee a forest-edge species. The pewee nests in 
all of these habitats including forest interior, and has 
good population densities in each (Table 8), but it is not 
certainly known whether pewees have a definite 
preference for one forest situation over another. Mundt 
(1883) found pewees plentiful in Livingston County in not 
too dense timber of medium-sized trees, especially oaks. 
Swink’s (1960) observations on perching sites also show 
the wood pewee to be strongly associated with oaks. Swink 
(1960) and Ridgway (1889) also point out that pewees 
often perch on dead branches. 
We have nest tree data for only 27 nests, about half of 
which (52 percent) were in oaks, including bur oak 
(Quercus macrocarpa), white oak (Q. alba), black oak 
49 
