Western Wood-Pewee family

This morning I also found this Western Wood-Pewee nest with the mother bird (it is reported that the female protects the nestlings by shading them from the sun) and nestlings. In this photo the female is laying in the nest facing to the right of the photo with her tail in the foreground, and 2 fledlings are visible on the left side of the nest (one is easily seen in the foreground and the other's head is visible in the background to the right of the branch).

The male bird stayed close by, bringing food to the nest. Though Birds of North America reports that both the male and female feed the nestlings, I didn't see if this male was bringing food to the female or to the nestlings.

In addition to being a common species along the Canon City Riverwalk, later today while in the San Carlos National Forest near Wetmore (south of Florence)I found them to be abundant.

Read more about this species here

SeEtta