Letter to an Eastern Wood-Pewee

BirdNote^®

Letter to an Eastern Wood-Pewee

Written by J. Drew Lanham

This is BirdNote. I'm J. Drew Lanham, an ornithologist, naturalist and writer, and this is a note I've written to a bird I love.

    [Eastern Wood-Pewee song]    

Dear Wood-Pewee,

Thanks so much for bringing a bit of mystery to my backyard. There's something so "tropical" about having you in my little South Carolina acreage. It's not that phoebe and Great-crested Flycatcher don't excite me. They do. 

[Eastern Phoebe song followed quickly by Great-crested Flycatcher song]

But something about your sallying, your little leaps off the branch to nab a fly, just makes you different. 

    [Eastern Wood-Pewee song]

Okay, being totally honest, there has been a time or two when you perched high up on top of the neighbors dying maple and I thought you might be an Olive-sided Flycatcher. But you turned into better light and your vest wasn't quite right. To top it off, you let a bit of your late summer song slip out; "Peeeee-ahhh".
    
    [Eastern Wood-Pewee song]    

So understatedly simple and definitive. It's kind of easy when you say your name like that. So anyway, hope you found my little pseudo pine savanna satisfactory.  I know you dig that kind of park-like set up. So be careful, Pewee. Travel safely back south! Hope to hear you here next year!

Catch You (but not flies) Later!
Drew

    [Eastern Wood-Pewee song]    

###

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Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Eastern Wood-Pewee ML247190851 recorded by Wil Hershberger, Eastern Phoebe ML426779621 recorded by Jeff Ellerbusch, and Great-crested Flycatcher ML94314 recorded by Wil Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote September 2023
Narrator: J. Drew Lanham

ID# letter-EAWP-01-2023-09-29    letter-EAWP-01