Red-eyed vireo | |
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In Wisconsin, North America | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Vireonidae |
Genus: | Vireo |
Species: | V. olivaceus |
Binomial name | |
Vireo olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
Synonyms | |
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The red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus) is a small American songbird. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
"Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole, possibly the European greenfinch. The specific olivaceus is Neo-Latin for olive-green, from Latin oliva "olive". [2] [3]
Adults are mainly olive-green on the upper parts with white underparts; they have a red iris and a grey crown edged with black. There is a dark blackish line through the eyes and a wide white stripe just above that line. They have thick blue-grey legs and a stout bill. They are yellowish on the flanks and undertail coverts (though this is faint in some populations[ which? ]).
In the past, the yellow-green vireo (V. flavoviridis), the chivi vireo (V. chivi), and the Noronha vireo (V. gracilirostris) have been considered to be conspecific with the red-eyed vireo; the chivi vireo was split most recently. Other closely related species include the black-whiskered vireo (V. altiloquus) and the Yucatan vireo (V. magister).
Measurements: [4]
Both sexes:
Red-eyed vireos are one of the most prolific singers in the bird world. They usually sing high up in trees for long periods of time in a question-and-answer rhythm. This species holds the record for most songs given in a single day among bird species, with more than 20,000 songs in one day.
Songs generally consist of 1-5 syllables between 2 and 6 kHz. [5] Songs are usually spaced apart by 0.8–1 seconds although at times vireos may sing at a slower or faster rate. [5] Red-eyed vireos have a large repertoire size with one study finding an average of 31.4 song types per bird with one individual singing 73 different song types. [5]
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: some information refers exclusively to South American breeding populations now treated as a separate species, chivi vireo.(June 2022) |
The breeding habitat of the red-eyed vireo is in the open wooded areas across Canada and the eastern and northwestern United States. These birds migrate to South America, where they spend the winter. The Latin American population occur in virtually any wooded habitat in their range. Most of these are residents, but the populations breeding in the far southern part of this species' range (e.g. most of its range in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia) migrate north as far as Central America.
In northern Ohio, it seems to return to breed at about the same time as one century ago; but it may leave for winter quarters one or two weeks earlier at present than it did in the past. [6]
Red-eyed vireos glean insects from tree foliage, favouring caterpillars and aphids and sometimes hovering while foraging. In some tropical regions, they are commonly seen to attend mixed-species feeding flocks, moving through the forest higher up in the trees than the bulk of such flocks. [7]
They also eat berries, especially before migration, and in the winter quarters, where trees bearing popular fruit like tamanqueiro (Alchornea glandulosa) or gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba) will even attract them to parks and gardens. [8] Fruit are typically not picked up from a hover, but the birds often quite acrobatically reach for them, even hanging upside down. [9]
The nest is a cup in a fork of a tree branch. The red-eyed vireo suffers from nest parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) in the north of its range, and by the shiny cowbird (M. bonariensis) further south. Parasitism by Haemoproteus [10] and trypanosoma might affect these birds not infrequently, as was noted in studies of birds caught in Parque Nacional de La Macarena and near Turbo (Colombia): though only three red-eyed vireos were examined, all were infected with at least one of these parasites. [11]
The red-eyed vireo is a visitor to some western states, especially California. [12] This vireo is one of the more frequent American passerine vagrants to Europe, with more than one hundred records, mainly in Ireland and Great Britain.
The rose-breasted grosbeak, colloquially called "cut-throat" due to its coloration, is a large, seed-eating grosbeak in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). It is primarily a foliage gleaner. Males have black heads, wings, backs, and tails, and a bright rose colored patch on their white breast. Males and females exhibit marked sexual dimorphism.
The brown-headed cowbird is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat around March or April.
The scarlet tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Until recently, it was placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), but it and other members of its genus are now classified as belonging to the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). The species' plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family, although the Piranga species lacks the thick conical bill that many cardinals possess. The species resides in thick deciduous woodlands and suburbs.
The blue-headed vireo is a migrating song bird found in North and Central America. There are currently two recognized subspecies that belong to the blue-headed vireo. It has a range that extends across Canada and the eastern coast of the United-States, Mexico and some of Central America. It prefers large temperate forests with a mix of evergreen trees and deciduous under growth.
The eastern phoebe is a small passerine bird. The genus name Sayornis is constructed from the specific part of Charles Lucien Bonaparte's name for Say's phoebe, Muscicapa saya, and Ancient Greek ornis, "bird". Phoebe is an alternative name for the Roman moon-goddess Diana, but it may also have been chosen to imitate the bird's call.
The eastern wood pewee is a small tyrant flycatcher from North America. This bird and the western wood pewee were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually identical in appearance, and can be distinguished most easily by their calls.
The yellow warbler is a New World warbler species. Yellow warblers are the most widespread species in the diverse genus Setophaga, breeding in almost the whole of North America, the Caribbean, as well as northern South America.
The Acadian flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.
The chivi vireo is a small South American songbird in the family Vireonidae. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the red-eyed vireo. It is usually green to yellow-green in color with off-white underparts, and a gray crown. It has a whitish supercilium extending over its ear coverts, and its lores are dull gray in color. The chivi vireo has nine subspecies. It is found throughout most of northern, eastern and central South America, only being absent from southern Chile and southern Argentina. It inhabits multiple types of habitat across its range, and appears to adjust well to slightly disturbed habitat. The chivi vireo is mainly resident, but at least two of the subspecies inhabiting the south of its range are known to be migratory.
The blue-gray tanager is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima (Peru). On Trinidad and Tobago, this bird is called blue jean.
The tropical kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher. This bird breeds from southern Arizona and the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States through Central America, South America as far as south as central Argentina and eastern Peru, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Birds from the northernmost and southern breeding areas migrate to warmer parts of the range after breeding.
The great kiskadee, called bem-te-vi in Brazil, pitogue in Paraguay, benteveo or bichofeo in Argentina, and luis bienteveo, pitabil, luis grande or chilera in Mexico, is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. It is the only member of the genus Pitangus.
The streaked flycatcher is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family.
The black-whiskered vireo is a small passerine bird, which breeds in southern Florida, USA, and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela. It is a partial migrant, with northern birds wintering from the Greater Antilles to northern South America. This species has occurred as a rare vagrant to Costa Rica.
The clay-colored thrush is a common Middle American bird of the thrush family (Turdidae). It is the national bird of Costa Rica, where it is well known as the yigüirro. Other common names include clay-colored robin.
The social flycatcher is a passerine bird from the Americas, a member of the large tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae).
The lesser greenlet is a small passerine bird in the vireo family. It breeds from northeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.
The squirrel cuckoo is a large and active species of cuckoo found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. Some authorities have split off the western Mexican form as the Mexican squirrel-cuckoo.
Alchornea glandulosa is a tree species of the Acalyphoideae native to South America, growing in southern Brazil from Minas Gerais to Rio Grande do Sul. It is locally known as tamanqueiro, tapiá or amor seco. This gnarled tree grows preferentially in riparian forest, where it a common pioneer species growing to a height of 10–20 m. It is essentially evergreen, though in the hot austral summer months there is a more pronounced changeover of leaves, and branches are denuded to some extent.