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Blackish/Smoke-coloured Pewee, Peru (1 Viewer)

Larry Sweetland

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
This was one of a pair of pewees found nesting at the waterfall near the Yurimaguas Rd Tunnel site in Peru in Oct 2018. At the time I tentatively identified them as Blackish Pewee because:

1. It gave the impression of being smaller than the several Wood Pewees I'd seen that day in the area.
2. Blackish Pewee is a speciality of that area, and the Peru field guide (narrowly) excludes Smoke-coloured Pewee on range and altitude.
3. It actually looked darker in the field than these images portray!

I'm now far from sure of my original id, and suspect I've been stringing like a good'un, because:

1. I have since come to learn that there are reports on ebird of Smoke-coloured Pewee in that area too
2. From the very limited number of (hopefully correctly identified) images I've so far found, the bird looks to be structurally more similar to Smoke-coloured to my (dodgy) eye.

Anyone able to identify it with certainty from these pics? And if so how? I've been unable to find any id pointers accept plumage tone and size, which are both useless here! What other features can separate these species?

Thanks for your help,

Larry
 

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Hi Larry
I completely understand your concerns! This is a tough nut to crack but if you felt it smaller than the wood-pewees seen before the same day, I'd say it has to be a Blackish as the Smoke-coloured is a bigger fellow than the wood-pewees.
On the other hand, the bill looks quite long and broad in some of the pics...but I'd say the bill of the bird sitting on the nest looks about right for a Blackish.
 
Are all images of the same bird? On one image the bill seems yellow all the way to the tip, on the other there seems to be a dark tip to the lower mandible.

Niels
 
Thanks for your input Motmot. I was wondering if the bills might differ enough for a safe id one way or another.

As to the size of the bird, although I was confident at the time, I'm all too aware of how easy it is to misjudge it.

Other things I've been trying to evaluate include size of head in relation to bird, size of eye in relation to head, length of tail, and wing structure..... I keep being unsure about all those things when comparing these shots to other images on the net.

For me it's the wings that are maybe more SCP? Although both spp maybe have similar ppwith respect to longest tertial, wings on images of BP somehow look more blunt.

Any more analysis very welcome!
 
Niels, the images may well be of different birds. There were two of them and Nicky took the pics. Both birds were the same size though!
 
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Is it possible that the two birds were different? the bird on the nest has pale yellow lower mandible, the one on the branch seems to have more orange lower mandible with the dark tip. The one on the branch seems to have hints of wing bar, which should fit Smoke-colored better.

Disclaimer: I have absolutely no book at the moment (in the middle of moving) and have just looked at the notes in HBW.

take a look at https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/blapew1/appearance (also check the multimedia section, and likewise for https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/smcpew1/overview

Niels
 
I'd call this a Blackish Pewee. Smoke-coloured Pewee is a hefty bird with an obvious crest, a black lower mandible in most cases. I don't know exactly were that waterfall is, but Yurimaguas is way below the elevational range of Smoke-coloured.
To me everything points towards Blackish Pewee: Altitude, structure, size, visible characters.
You can compare your bird to these pictures, which look correctly identified to my eyes
Smoke-coloured Pewee
Blackish Pewee

Maffong
 
Thanks for your input Maffong, much appreciated. I'll revist images of these again when I next have time.

With regard to altitude, I realise it's supposedly low for Smoke-coloured, but there are a handful of ebird reports from nearby, including one from the exact location... Obviously I'm cautious of ebird sightings....but equally cautious of using range and altitude to Id birds!

Anyone else care to cast a critical eyeon this bird??
 
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Hmmmm I'm still worried that my bird's eye might be a bit too small, bill a bit too long, and crest a bit too 'there' in one pic, for comfort :smoke:

Reckon those linked pics do look correctly identified... except isn't that a Black Phoebe among the Smokies!? :eek!:
 
blackish pewee for me
smoke has a very obvious crest like a roof and lower mandible often darker
and this bird looks somewhat brownish，smoke greyer and clearer edges on flight feathers
 
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