The dark pewee (''Contopus lugubris'') is a small
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the
tyrant flycatcher
The tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) comprise a family of passerine birds which is found virtually throughout North and South America. It is the world's largest family of birds, with more than 400 species, and is the most diverse avian family i ...
family. It is endemic to the
Talamancan montane forests
The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America.
Setting
The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mount ...
of
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
and western
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
.
This large, dark
pewee
The pewees are a genus, ''Contopus'', of small to medium-sized insect-eating birds in the Tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae.
These birds are known as pewees, from the call of one of the more common members of this vocal group. They are generall ...
is found between 1250 m and 2150 m altitude in wet mountain forests, 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
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
s, lined with plant fibres. It is placed 5–18 m high across a branch. The eggs are undescribed, but the female builds the nest, lays only two eggs and incubates the eggs for 15–16 days before they hatch.
The dark pewee is 26.5 cm long and weighs 23 g. The upperparts are sooty-grey, darkest on the prominently crested crown. The wings and tail are blackish, the wings having grey feather edges and a weak wing bar. The throat is pale grey, with most of the rest of the underparts a paler olive-grey than the back, becoming yellowish on the lower belly. Sexes are similar, but young birds are browner above and have
rufous
Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish- red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a d ...
fringes to the wing feathers.
The dark pewee is solitary when not breeding. It perches on a high watchpoint from which it
sallies forth to catch flying insects, returning to the same exposed perch.
This is a conspicuous species, with an incessant loud ''whip'' call, and repetitive ''fred-reek-fear'' song. It will defend the nest aggressively against larger species, including the
emerald toucanet
The emerald toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus prasinus'') is a species of near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found from Mexico to Nicaragua.
Taxonomy and systematics
The emerald toucanet was originally described in the genu ...
.
References
* Stiles and Skutch, ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica'',
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1262569
dark pewee
Endemic birds of the Talamancan montane forests
dark pewee