Check this out! I posted the nest of a Western Wood Pewee last year (06/24/25 Western Wood-Pewee Nest). This year I walked by the same area and found another Western Wood-Pewee nest. As I stood there watching it and taking a couple of photos, my memories came forward and I started feeling like the nest was on that same limb last year. When I got home and compared the photos, the two nests are in the exact same spot! The first photo is this year and second photo is last year. Incredible!
This phenomenon is known as site fidelity or site tenacity. Cornell’s All About Birds gives this definition: “Loyalty shown by birds or other organisms to places they previously occupied; the places may be breeding locations, nonbreeding locations, or stopover points between the two.”
The general belief is that if birds are successful at breeding they are likely to return to that area again. This bird spends our winter in South America which is considered to be a medium to long range migration. Check out the range map on All About Birds.
I just have to write this out because I find this whole phenomenon quite miraculous and mysterious. This little bird migrated here last year from South America, nested at the arboretum, flew back to South America for their summer, migrated back here to the arboretum for our summer the following year, and built its nest on the same limb, in the same spot! I know I just said this but I want to say it again. It’s in the same spot! How is that possible!? The world we live in is so unbelievable!!!!
Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I hope to see you out there!
Resources
Birder, Jeff. “Bird Academy’s A-to-Z Glossary of Bird Terms | Bird Academy • the Cornell Lab.” CornellBirds, 9 Sept. 2016, https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/bird-academys-a-to-z-glossary-of-bird-terms/#s. Accessed 6 July 2026.
Western Wood-Pewee Range Map, All about Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Wood-Pewee/maps-range. Accessed 6 July 2026.