wood pewee

or wood-pewee

noun

1. either of two small North American flycatchers, the western Contopus sordidulus or the eastern C. virens.

Word History and Origins

Origin of wood pewee¹

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

The impacted species include blackbirds, flycatchers, sparrows, swallows, warblers and the western wood pewee.

From Salon

“There’s your eastern wood pewee,” he says with excitement, steadying the laser on the tree trunk next to the sitting bird.

From Washington Post

One morning before the wood pewees were up, I was smoking a mess of fish I had caught in the stream.

From Literature

A bobolink's bubbling carol is unthinkable in a jungle, and the strain of a wood pewee on a sunny hillside would be like an organ playing dance-music.

From Project Gutenberg

Without hearing this call-note one might often mistake the bird for either the wood pewee or the phœbe, for all the three are similarly clothed and have many traits in common.

From Project Gutenberg