Thick-billed vireo | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Vireonidae |
Genus: | Vireo |
Species: | V. crassirostris |
Binomial name | |
Vireo crassirostris (Bryant, 1859) | |
The thick-billed vireo (Vireo crassirostris) is a small songbird. It breeds in the West Indies in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Tortuga Island in Haiti and on cays off the coast of Cuba. It occasionally can be found as a vagrant to south Florida in the United States. The subspecies V. c. approximans of Providencia Island is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the mangrove vireo (V. pallens) or as a separate species, the Providencia vireo.
This vireo frequents bushes and shrubs in tropical thickets. The grass-lined nest is a neat cup shape, attached to a fork in a tree or bush branch. 2-3 dark-spotted white eggs are laid. Both the male and female incubate the eggs.
The thick-billed vireo is approximately 14 cm in length. Its head and back are a greyish olive, and the underparts are buffy white. The wings and tail are dark, and there are two white wing bars on each wing. The eyes have dark irises. Sexes are similar. It shows a yellow partial spectacle just above the bill. There are five subspeciesaccording to the University of Michigan Zoology Dept.: Vireo crassirostris crassirostris Vireo crassirostris stalagmium Vireo crassirostris crassirostris Vireo crassirostris alleni Vireo crassirostris tortugae
The thick-billed vireos song is a variable and rapid six to seven note phrase, starting and ending with a sharp chick, very similar to the white-eyed vireo, but slightly harsher in sound.
The diet of this species consists almost exclusively of insects.
The thick-billed raven, a corvid from the Horn of Africa, shares with the common raven the distinction of being the largest bird in the corvid family, and indeed the largest of the passerines. The thick-billed raven averages 64 cm (25 in) in length, with a range of 60 to 70 cm and weighs approximately 1.15 kg (2.5 lb) in females and 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) in males on average. Its size is about the same as the largest species of common raven but some common raven subspecies are rather smaller and, going on average weights, the thick-billed raven is likely the heaviest extant passerine. The thick-billed raven is about 25% heavier on average than the Australasian superb lyrebird, which is sometimes erroneously titled the largest passerine.
The laughing gull is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. The two subspecies are: L. a. megalopterus – which can be seen from southeast Canada down to Central America, and L. a. atricilla which appears from the West Indies to the Venezuelan islands. The laughing gull was long placed in the genus Larus until its present placement in Leucophaeus, which follows the American Ornithologists' Union.
Cory's shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Scopoli's shearwater.
The glaucous gull is a large gull, the second-largest gull in the world. It breeds in Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and winters south to shores of the Holarctic. The genus name is from Latin larus, which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific name hyperboreus is Latin for "northern" from the Ancient Greek Huperboreoi people from the far north "Glaucous" is from Latin glaucus and denotes the grey colour of the gull. An older English name for this species is burgomaster.
The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. This bird is common across much of temperate North America and in summer ranges far into the Arctic. It is a very variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely untangled.
The northern rough-winged swallow is a small, migratory swallow. It is very similar to the southern rough-winged swallow, Stelgidopteryx ruficollis.
The Philadelphia vireo is a small North American songbird in the vireo family (Vireonidae). "Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole, possibly the European greenfinch. The specific philadelphicus is for the city of Philadelphia.
The white-eyed vireo is a small songbird of the family Vireonidae. It breeds in the southeastern United States from New Jersey west to northern Missouri and south to Texas and Florida, and also in eastern Mexico, northern Central America, Cuba and the Bahamas.
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 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.
Townsend's solitaire is a medium-sized thrush, the only solitaire native to America north of Mexico.
The San Andres vireo or St. Andrew vireo is a threatened species of vireo endemic to the Colombian island of San Andrés in the Caribbean, located off the east coast of Nicaragua. Due to habitat loss from the ever expanding population on these small islands, the species has now become limited to a few localities on the southern half of the island, but it is still common in some of these areas. It is found in most habitat types on the island.
The thick-billed kingbird is a large bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. This bird breeds from southeastern Arizona, extreme southwestern New Mexico, and northern Sonora,, in the United States and Mexico, through western and western-coastal Mexico, south to western Guatemala.
The great-winged petrel is a petrel.
The thick-billed saltator is a species of saltator in the family Thraupidae. It is found in highland Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil, far northeastern Argentina, and perhaps far eastern Paraguay. Unlike most other saltators, it is sexually dichromatic: Females resemble a green-winged saltator, but with a thicker bill, greener face and buff throat. The male thick-billed saltator is unique with its long white eyebrow, grey back, and black and orange beak.
The fulmar prion is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae, found in the southern oceans.
The crested cuckoo-dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The great-billed seed finch is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, swamps, and heavily degraded former forest. They are found in two separate general populations, one in the northern Amazon rainforest and the other in the Cerrado. They live in flooded areas with nests low to the ground. The adults express strong sexual dimorphism. Males are black with white under wing-coverts and ivory white bills, and the females are generally light brown with white under wing-coverts and black bills. Both the male and female have very large, thick bills. The great-billed seed finch has a melodious call, which has made it a target for trapping.
The Oriental cuckoo or Horsfields cuckoo is a bird belonging to the genus Cuculus in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Himalayan cuckoo, with the name 'Oriental cuckoo' used for the combined species. Differences in voice and size suggest that it should be treated as a separate species. The binomial name Cuculus horsfieldi has often been used instead of Cuculus optatus, but is now usually considered to be a junior synonym.
Vireo is a genus of small passerine birds restricted to the New World. Vireos typically have dull greenish plumage, but some are brown or gray on the back and some have bright yellow underparts. They resemble wood warblers apart from their slightly larger size and heavier bills, which in most species have a very small hook at the tip. The legs are stout.