Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Pewee
Often seen darting from a perch to grasp insects from the air, the Cuban Pewee is full of energy and character. It is a species of flycatcher, a group of birds well known for catching their insect prey on the wing. Unlike other species with vibrant colors (think Western Spindalis, Yellow Warbler, and Painted Bunting) this small bird has rather drab olive-brown plumage with an olive-gray crown and tufted crest. Its underparts are lighter beige-gray with yellowish wash. Look for the bold white crescent behind the eye to distinguish this bird from other flycatchers.
Formerly called the Crescent-eyed Pewee, the Cuban Pewee is a Caribbean endemic, found in only two countries: Cuba and The Bahamas. There are four subspecies, three in Cuba and one in The Bahamas, which vary slightly in plumage. In The Bahamas, you can find them on the northern islands of Grand Bahama, Abaco, New Providence, Andros, Eleuthera and Cat Island. They are wide-spread throughout Cuba from the coast to moderate elevations. Their habitat includes pine and broad-leafed forests, forest edges, tree plantations, brushy scrub, mangroves, and swamp edges.
A great way to find this bird is to listen out for its song, Tswee-ooooooooo.” The first part is explosive and the second a long descending whistle. It’s call is a short “peep peep,” or the Bahamas, “peeep peep peep!”
Like other flycatchers, the Cuban Pewee typically uses a low perch from which it flies to catch insects on the wing. It mainly eats small insects, but will also eat fruits. Breeding is thought to occur in February-March in the Bahamas and March to June in Cuba. The nest is a finely-made cup of roots, hair, dried grass, lichens, and moss placed in the fork of a tree branch or shrub. Eggs (2-4) are pale with dark dots, crowned with lilac or grayish dots at the broad end.
The Cuban Pewee is a common resident bird in its range and is not considered threatened. This relatively tame bird is readily found and always a delight to observe and hear! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Pewee
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Cuban Pewee
The song of the Cuban Pewee song is a “Tswee-ooooooo.” The short sharp initial “Tweee” is followed by a drawn-out descending whistle.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: How much can you remember about the birds we have featured during the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2022? Test your memory of your newly gained knowledge of these wonderful birds with our 2022 Caribbean Endemic Bird Quiz! Today we have Part Two of a two-part Bird Trivia Quiz. Try to answer all the questions without checking back to our posts or looking up the answers online or in your bird guides! But just in case you do get stuck you or if you want to do some studying before you try the quiz you can read about all our featured endemic birds here or take a browse on ebird. Once you’ve finished the quiz you can click on the “View Score” link to see how many you got right and find out the correct answers! Note: the page might look blank when you finish, but if you scroll back up you should be able to find the link to “View Score”.
Now you’ve completed our quiz – enjoy this video of a Green-tailed Warbler the wild!