ML628680997

Observation details

I found the Greater Pewee in the top of a sparsely leaved tree near the outlet of the southern lake. When I first saw it, it had its crest elevated: wispy, like a Phainopepla's, rather than solid-looking like the crest of a cardinal or a Blue Jay, but much crestier than a wood-pewee. Most of the time, the crest wasn't elevated, and the bird only looked slightly cresty; but on several occasions, I saw it raise the crest for a second or so—never long enough for me to get a good picture. I had a very good look at the underbill, which was entirely bright orange, and looked proportionally larger than the bill of a wood-pewee. I couldn't get a great look at the underparts, but the breast appeared to have a vague vest pattern, less evident than that of a wood-pewee; the undertail coverts didn't appear to have the poorly defined dark spots that I'd expect on a wood-pewee's. Unfortunately, no vocalizations. I probably spent close to an hour watching and trying to photograph the bird—I ran back to the car for the camera, and the bird was still there when I returned; then I discovered that I was out of battery, and had to find a ramada with an outlet where I could recharge. During this whole time, the bird remained in the same area. I couldn't find it at times, but then it'd fly back into the tree where I'd originally seen it, or a nearby sparsely-leaved tree. This, and an eBird report of Greater Pewee in Reid Park yesterday, suggests that it might be staying in the neighborhood.