Vireo | |
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Chivi vireo (Vireo chivi) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Vireonidae |
Genus: | Vireo Vieillot, 1808 |
Type species | |
Muscicapa novaeboracensis [1] = Tanagra grisea Boddaert, 1783 | |
Species | |
See text |
Vireo is a genus of small passerine birds restricted to the New World. Vireos typically have dull greenish plumage (hence the name, from Latin virere, "to be green"), 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, [2] which in most species have a very small hook at the tip. [3] The legs are stout. [2]
Most species fall into two plumage groups: one with wing bars and yellow or white eye rings, and one with unmarked wings and eye stripes; however, the Chocó vireo has both wing bars and eye stripes. [3]
Sexes are alike in all species except for the black-capped vireo, in which the male's crown is black and the female's is gray. [3]
The genus Vireo was introduced in 1808 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. [4] The type species was subsequently designated as the white-eyed vireo (Vireo griseus) by German ornithologist Hans Friedrich Gadow in 1883. [5] [6] The word vireo was used by Latin authors for a small, green, migratory bird, probably a Eurasian golden oriole, but a European greenfinch has also been suggested. [7]
All members of the genus mostly eat insects and other arthropods, but also eat some fruit. [3] A common pattern is arthropods in summer and fruit in winter. [2] Vireos take prey from leaves and branches and in midair, and the gray vireo takes 5% of its prey from the ground. [3]
Most species are found in Central America and northern South America. Thirteen species occur farther north, in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda; [8] of these, all but Hutton's vireo are migratory. Vireos seldom fly long distances except in migration. [3]
The resident species occur in pairs or family groups that maintain territories all year (except Hutton's vireo, which joins mixed feeding flocks). Most of the migrants defend winter territories against conspecifics. The exceptions are the complex comprising the red-eyed vireo, the yellow-green vireo, the black-whiskered vireo, and the Yucatan vireo, which winter in small, wandering flocks. [3]
Males of most species are persistent singers. Songs are usually rather simple, ranging from monotonous, in some species of the Caribbean littoral and islands, to elaborate and pleasant to human ears in the Chocó vireo. [3] Calls often include "scolding chatters and mews". [2]
The species whose nests are known all build a cup-shaped nest that hangs from branches. Its outer layer is made of coarse leaf and bark strips or of moss, depending on the species; in either case, the material is bound with spider silk and ornamented with spider egg cases. The lining is made of fine grass stems neatly circling the cup. In most species, both sexes work on the nest, but the female adds the lining. In the red-eyed, black-whiskered, Yucatan, and Philadelphia vireos, the male does not help, instead singing and accompanying the female while she builds the nest. The female does most of the incubation, spelled by the male except in the red-eyed vireo complex. [3]
The eggs are whitish; all but the black-capped and dwarf vireos have sparse, fine brown or red-brown spots at the wide end. [2] [3] Tropical species lay two, while temperate-zone species lay four or five. Incubation lasts 11 to 13 days, and the young fledge after the same amount of time. Both sexes feed the nestlings arthropods, and each fledgeling is fed by one parent or the other (not both) for as long as 20 days. [3]
The genus contains 34 species: [9]
Group | Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|---|
The "hypochryseus" group | Golden vireo | Vireo hypochryseus | Mexico | |
The "olivaceous" group | Yellow-green vireo | Vireo flavoviridis | southern Texas, Mexico (the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental—also the Cordillera Neovolcanica) south to central Panama | |
Red-eyed vireo | Vireo olivaceus | Canada and the eastern and northwestern United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia | ||
Yucatan vireo | Vireo magister | Belize, Honduras, Mexico | ||
Black-whiskered vireo | Vireo altiloquus | southern Florida, USA, and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela | ||
Chivi vireo | Vireo chivi | northeastern Colombia, into Venezuela and the entirety of the Guianas into eastern Brazil | ||
Noronha vireo | Vireo gracilirostris | Fernando de Noronha, Brazil | ||
The "gilvus" group | Tepui vireo | Vireo sclateri | western Guyana and northern Brazil | |
Philadelphia vireo | Vireo philadelphicus | Canada to Central America | ||
Warbling vireo | Vireo gilvus | Alaska to Mexico and the Florida Panhandle | ||
Brown-capped vireo | Vireo leucophrys | Southern Mexico south to northwestern Bolivia | ||
The "eye-ringed" group | Hutton's vireo | Vireo huttoni | southern British Columbia in Canada to central Guatemala in Central America | |
Gray vireo | Vireo vicinior | southwestern United States and northern Baja California to western Texas | ||
Yellow-throated vireo | Vireo flavifrons | southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America | ||
Yellow-winged vireo | Vireo carmioli | Costa Rica and western Panama | ||
Choco vireo | Vireo masteri | western Colombia and north-west Ecuador | ||
Blue-headed vireo | Vireo solitarius | Canada and northern United States | ||
Cassin's vireo | Vireo cassinii | southern British Columbia in Canada through the western coastal states of the United States. | ||
Plumbeous vireo | Vireo plumbeus | southeastern Montana and western South Dakota south to the Pacific coast of Mexico | ||
Blue Mountain vireo | Vireo osburni | Jamaica | ||
Flat-billed vireo | Vireo nanus | Hispaniola | ||
Mangrove vireo | Vireo pallens | Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua | ||
Providencia vireo | Vireo approximans | Isla de Providencia | ||
Cozumel vireo | Vireo bairdi | Mexico | ||
San Andres vireo | Vireo caribaeus | islands of St. Andrew (or San Andrés) and Providencia | ||
White-eyed vireo | Vireo griseus | eastern United States from New England west to northern Missouri and south to Texas and Florida, and also in eastern Mexico, northern Central America, Cuba and the Bahamas | ||
Thick-billed vireo | Vireo crassirostris | West Indies in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Tortuga Island in Haiti and Cuba | ||
Jamaican vireo | Vireo modestus | Jamaica | ||
Cuban vireo | Vireo gundlachii | Cuba | ||
Bell's vireo | Vireo bellii | Western North America and Central America | ||
Puerto Rican vireo | Vireo latimeri | Puerto Rico | ||
Black-capped vireo | Vireo atricapilla | south from south-central Kansas through central Oklahoma and Texas to central Coahuila, Mexico | ||
Dwarf vireo | Vireo nelsoni | Mexico | ||
Slaty vireo | Vireo brevipennis | southern Mexico | ||
The Old World orioles (Oriolidae) are an Old World family of passerine birds. The family contains 41 species which are divided in 4 genera. The family includes two extinct species from New Zealand that are placed in the genus Turnagra.
The accentors are a genus of birds in the family Prunellidae, which is endemic to the Old World. This small group of closely related passerines are all in the genus Prunella. All but the dunnock and the Japanese accentor are inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia; these two also occur in lowland areas, as does the Siberian accentor in the far north of Siberia. These birds are not strongly migratory, but they will leave the coldest parts of their range in winter and make altitudinal movements.
The penduline tits constitute the family, Remizidae, of small passerine birds, related to the true tits. All but the verdin make elaborate bag nests hanging from trees, usually over water.
The vireos make up a family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World and Southeast Asia. "Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole, possibly the European greenfinch.
The ioras are a small family, Aegithinidae, of four passerine bird species found in south and southeast Asia. The family is composed of a single genus, Aegithina. They were formerly grouped with the leafbirds and fairy-bluebirds, in the family Irenidae.
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The white-breasted nuthatch is a species of bird in the nuthatch family Sittidae. It is a medium-sized nuthatch, measuring approximately 15.5 cm (6.1 in) in length. Coloration varies somewhat along the species' range, but the upperparts are light blue-gray, with a black crown and nape in males, while females have a dark gray crown. The underparts are whitish, with a reddish tinge on the lower abdomen. Despite not being closely related, the white-breasted nuthatch and the white wagtail are very similar in plumage. The white-breasted nuthatch is a noisy bird. It has a nasal voice and often utters little cries or vocalizations, often composed of repetitions of small invariant whistles. In summer, it is an exclusively insectivorous bird, consuming a wide range of arthropods, but in winter its diet consists mainly of seeds. The nest is located in the cavity of a tree. The clutch consists of five to nine eggs, incubated for two weeks by the female, who is fed by the male. The two adults then feed the young until they fledge, and for a few weeks after that.
The blue-headed vireo is a Neotropical 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 varied thrush is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Ixoreus.
The black-and-white warbler is a species of New World warbler, and the only member of its genus, Mniotilta. It breeds in northern and eastern North America and winters in Florida, Central America, and the West Indies down to Peru. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
The black-faced cuckooshrike is a common omnivorous passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. It has a protected status in Australia, under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974.
The white-eyed vireo is a small songbird of the family Vireonidae.
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 great antshrike is a passerine bird in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. It is the only member of the genus Taraba. It is a resident breeder in the tropical New World in southern Mexico, Central America, Trinidad and South America down to northern Argentina and southeastern Brazil.
The yellow-green vireo is a small American passerine bird. It is migratory breeding from Mexico to Panama and wintering in the northern and eastern Andes and the western Amazon Basin.
The tawny-winged woodcreeper is a passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
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The Himalayan shrike-babbler is a bird subspecies found in the western Himalayas that belongs to the shrike-babbler group. The genus was once considered to be an aberrant Old World babbler and placed in the family Timaliidae until molecular phylogenetic studies showed them to be closely related to the vireos of the New World, leading to their addition in the family Vireonidae. Males and females have distinctive plumages, with the males being all black about with a cinnamon-rufous tertial patch and a distinctive white stripe running from behind the eye. The underside is whitish with some pinkish buff on the flanks. Females have a greyish head, lack the white stripe and have the upperparts and wings with greens, yellow and chestnut. The subspecies is part of a cryptic species complex that was earlier considered as one species, white-browed shrike-babbler with several subspecies.
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