{"id":34905,"date":"2016-01-17T06:07:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-17T13:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34905"},"modified":"2025-11-09T18:58:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T00:58:36","slug":"a-western-wood-pewee-in-the-centennial-valley-of-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/17\/a-western-wood-pewee-in-the-centennial-valley-of-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Wood-Pewee in the Centennial Valley of Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WesternWestern Wood-Pewee and crossed wires – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

In June of 2013 I spent a total of 11 days on two separate trips in the Centennial Valley of Montana and photographed Western Wood-Pewees for the first time. I’d seen pewees before but had never been able to get locked onto them before they flew away.<\/p>\n

I was excited to find several of them hawking prey from barbed wire fences along side of the South Valley Road that goes to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Western Wood-Pewees are drab,\u00a0medium-sized, flycatchers that breed in the open forests and riparian habitats in western North America. They are migratory and spend the winter in South America but some may winter further north.<\/p>\n

There might be a few patches of open sky later this morning, I sure hope so because I am getting a really bad case of cabin fever and it can only be cured by photographing birds.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Western Wood-Pewee photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western Wood-Pewees are drab, medium-sized, flycatchers that breed in the open forests and riparian habitats in western North America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,2246],"tags":[4004,4430,2247,4884,2249,4104,12191,12192,165,5434,4883,12193,12194],"class_list":["post-34905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-western-wood-pewees","tag-adult","tag-barbed-wire","tag-contopus-sordidulus","tag-flycatchers","tag-hawking","tag-perched","tag-pewee","tag-pewees","tag-spring","tag-valley","tag-western-wood-pewee","tag-wood-pewee","tag-wood-pewees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-wood-pewee-adult-mia-mcpherson-4586.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-94Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8615,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/18\/wired-western-wood-pewee\/","url_meta":{"origin":34905,"position":0},"title":"Wired 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McPherson","date":"August 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Eastern Kingbirds; like their western counterpart, are fearless and will attack birds as large as Bald Eagles to defend their nests.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern Kingbird in the Centennial Valley of Montana, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There were Mountain Bluebirds everywhere I looked on my recent trip to Montana where flashes of their brilliant blue plumage were a delight to my eyes.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mountain Bluebird female with prey for her young, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mountain-bluebird-female-prey-mia-mcpherson-7085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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