Mangrove vireo

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Mangrove vireo
Vireo pallens.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Vireonidae
Genus: Vireo
Species:
V. pallens
Binomial name
Vireo pallens
Salvin, 1863
Vireo pallens map.svg

The mangrove vireo (Vireo pallens) is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. It is found Mexico and every Central American country except Panama. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy and systematics

The mangrove vireo was formally described in 1863 by the English naturalist Osbert Salvin based on specimens collected at El Realejo in Nicaragua and at Puntarenas in Costa Rica. He coined the current binomial Vireo pallens. [3] The specific epithet is from Latin meaning "pale-colored", "greenish" or "yellowish". [4] El Realejo has been designated the type locality. [5]

The mangrove vireo's taxonomy is unsettled. The IOC, AviList, and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign it these 10 subspecies: [2] [6] [7]

The Clements taxonomy does not recognize V. p. wetmorei and V. p. browningi, including them within V. p. semiflavus. [8]

Some twentieth century authors treated the mangrove vireo as conspecific with the white-eyed vireo (V. griseus). Others have suggested that two or three species are represented within the mangrove vireo because of plumage and vocal differences between the "Pacific" and "Caribbean" groups of subspecies. [9]

Subspecies V. p. approximans was originally described by Robert Ridgway as a species. Ridgway noted the bird's strong similarity to what is now the thick-billed vireo (V. crassirostris). [10] Until the late 2010s approximans was treated as a subspecies of crassirostris before taxonomic systems began transferring it to its present position as a subspecies of V. pallens. [11] [12] [13] [2]

This article follows the 10-subspecies model.

Description

The mangrove vireo is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs about 9 to 13 g (0.32 to 0.46 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies V. p. pallens have a mostly greenish brown crown, face, and nape with a buffy area from above the lores to past the eye. Their upperparts are greenish brown. Their wing coverts are dark gray with yellowish white tips that form two wing bars. Their flight feathers are dark gray; the primaries and secondaries have thin yellowish green edges on the outer webs and the tertials have whitish edges. Their tail is dark gray with greenish edges on the feathers' outer webs. Their chin is whitish yellow and their throat and underparts grayish with a faint yellow tinge on the lower flanks and belly. [9]

The other subspecies of the mangrove vireo differ from the nominate and each other thus: [9] [14]

The mangrove vireo's subspecies have a brownish straw to dirty white iris, a dark brown or gray brown maxilla, a paler mandible, and gray-blue legs and feet. [9]

Distribution and habitat

The mangrove vireo has a widely disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus: [9]

The mangrove vireo inhabits different landscapes on the Pacific and Caribbean sides. The Pacific subspecies V. p. paluster, V. p. ochraceus, V. p. pallens, and V. p. nicoyensis are found almost exclusively in mangroves, especiall red mangrove ( Rhizophora ). The other subspecies, found along the Caribbean coast and nearby islands, inhabits more varied landscapes. In addition to mangroves these include scrubby woodlands, fields being overgrown with bushes, young secondary forest, and the edges of more mature forest. [9]

Behavior

Movement

The mangrove vireo is a sedentary year-round resident. [9]

Feeding

The mangrove vireo feeds on insects, spiders, and fruits. It usually forages low in vegetation, singly or in pairs, and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks. [9]

Breeding

Three nests of the mangrove vireo are known; all were found in Belize between April and June. One was described as a deep cup made from thin strips of bark, grass, lichen, and other plant fibers bound together with spider web and lined with pine needles. It was in a branch fork about 1 m (3 ft) above the ground in a live oak ( Quercus oleoides ) and held three eggs. The other nests had two and three eggs respectively. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology. [9] [15]

Vocalization

The mangrove vireo's vocalizations vary among the subspecies. In Mexico it sings "a series of 3–12 (usually 4–6) twanging, slightly disyllabic notes". [9] In northern Central America different populations sing jear-jear-jear-jear-jear and wei-wei-wei-wei-wei. [16] In Costa Rica the species sings "a scratchy, monotone chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi". [17] The species also makes "a nasal or buzzy scolding and a drawn-out, mewing j-weehr". [9]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the mangrove vireo as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range; its estimated population of at least 500,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. [1] It is considered abundant on the islands along the Caribbean coast of northern Central America but uncommon on both of the mainland coasts. [16] It is fairly common in its small Costa Rican range. [17]

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2021). "Mangrove Vireo Vireo pallens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021 e.T22705191A139888566. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22705191A139888566.en . Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (March 2025). "Vireos, shrike-babblers". IOC World Bird List. v 15.1. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  3. ↑ Salvin, Osbert (1863). "Descriptions of thirteen new species of birds discovered in Central America by Frederick Godman and Osbert Salvin". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (Part 2): 186–192 [188].
  4. ↑ Jobling, James A. "pallens". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  5. ↑ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 115.
  6. ↑ AviList Core Team. 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025 retrieved June 11, 2025
  7. ↑ HBW and BirdLife International (2025). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 10. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/about-our-science/taxonomy#birdlife-s-taxonomic-checklist retrieved October 12, 2025
  8. ↑ Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2025. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2025. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 3, 2025
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Brewer, D. and G. M. Kirwan (2024). Mangrove Vireo (Vireo pallens), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.manvir1.01.1 retrieved December 5, 2025
  10. ↑ Ridgway, Robert (1884). "On a collection of birds made by Messrs. J. E. Benedict and W. Nye, of the United States Fish Commission steamer "Albatross"". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. VII. Smithsonian Institution Press: 179–180. Retrieved December 5, 2025.
  11. ↑ R. Terry Chesser, Kevin J. Burns, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Sixtieth supplement to the American Ornithological Society s Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk 2019, vol. 136:1-23 retrieved April 5, 2023
  12. ↑ Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019.
  13. ↑ HBW and BirdLife International (2020) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. [Old] Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip
  14. ↑ Parkes, Kenneth C. (1990). "A revision of the Mangrove Vireo (Vireo pallens) (Aves: Vireonidae)". Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 59 (1). Carnegie Museum of Natural History: 49–60. Retrieved December 5, 2025.
  15. ↑ Figueroa, O. A., and G. Albanese (2002). "The nest and eggs of the Mangrove (Maya) Vireo (Vireo pallens semiflavus)". Ornitología Neotropical 13(4):437–439.
  16. 1 2 Fagan, Jesse; Komar, Oliver (2016). Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America. Peterson Field Guides. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 286–287. ISBN   978-0-544-37326-6.
  17. 1 2 Garrigues, Richard; Dean, Robert (2007). The Birds of Costa Rica. Ithaca: Zona Tropical/Comstock/Cornell University Press. pp. 224–225. ISBN   978-0-8014-7373-9.
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