Dark Pewee

Overview

The dark pewee, Contopus lugubris, is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is endemic to the Talamancan montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama, where it inhabits wet mountain forests between 1250 m and 2150 m altitude.

Identification

• 26.5 cm long and weighing 23 g, with sooty-grey upperparts that are darkest on the prominently crested crown.
• Wings and tail are blackish, with wings featuring grey feather edges and a weak wing bar.
• Throat is pale grey, and the rest of the underparts are a paler olive-grey than the back, becoming yellowish on the lower belly.
• Young birds are browner above and have rufous fringes to the wing feathers.
• Vocalisations include an incessant loud whip call and a repetitive fred-reek-fear song.

Habitat

Found in wet mountain forests between 1250 m and 2150 m altitude, especially at the edges and in clearings, and in adjacent semi-open areas with tall trees. The nest is a broad, thick-walled saucer of mosses and lichens, lined with plant fibres, placed 5–18 m high across a branch.

Diet

The dark pewee perches on a high watchpoint from which it sallies forth to catch flying insects, returning to the same exposed perch after each foraging bout.

Did you know?

It will aggressively defend its nest against larger species, including the emerald toucanet.