Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Population
Estimated population is 5,000,000 - 50,000,000 (2010).
Tropical Pewee (Contopus cinereus) [XC393777]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Chalatenango, Chalatenango Department, El Salvador (call)
Tropical Pewee (Contopus cinereus) [XC287547]
by GABRIEL LEITE from Len\u00e7ois, Bahia. Road to Remanso, Brazil (call)
Subspecies
Thought by some possibly to form a superspecies with Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus) and Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens). Formerly included subspecies canescens of Blackish Pewee (Contopus nigrescens). Subspecies possibly represent more than one species. Nominate differs from others in plumage, and punensis differs vocally.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
brachytarsus (Sclater, PL, 1859) - Southern Mexico (from northern Oaxaca, southern Veracruz and Yucatán, including Cozumel I) south to Panama (west of Darién Gap).
rhizophorus (Dwight & Griscom, 1924) - Guanacaste, in north-western Costa Rica.
aithalodes Wetmore, 1957 - Coiba I, off southern Panama.
bogotensis (Bonaparte, 1850) - Northern and eastern Colombia, northern Venezuela, Trinidad and north-western Brazil. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Northern Tropical Pewee (Contopus bogotensis).
surinamensis Penard, FP & Penard, AP, 1910 - South-eastern Venezuela, the Guianas and north-eastern Brazil.
punensis Lawrence, 1869 - Western Ecuador and western and central Peru. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Western Tropical Pewee (Contopus punensis).
pallescens (Hellmayr, 1927) - South-central and eastern Brazil south to north-eastern Paraguay, Bolivia and north-western Argentina.
cinereus (Spix, 1825) - South-eastern Paraguay, south-eastern Brazil and north-eastern Argentina.