Bird name:

Red-eyed Vireo

Vireo olivaceus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Vireos (Vireonidae)

Code 4

REVI

Code 6

VIROLI

ITIS

179021

Breeding Location:

Forest

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Declining

Egg Color:

White with brown and black spots at large end

Number of Eggs:

3 - 5

Incubation Days:

11 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Bark pieces, grass, leaves, and plant fibers.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Red-eyed Vireo: Medium-sized vireo with olive-brown upperparts and white underparts. Head has a gray cap, white eyebrow, black eyestripe, and red eyes. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown eyes and yellow-washed underparts.

Range and Habitat

Red-eyed Vireo: Breeds from British Columbia, Ontario, and Gulf of Saint Lawrence south to Oregon, Colorado, the Gulf Coast, and Florida. Spends winters in the tropics. Inhabits mature deciduous woodlands; also found in shade trees in residential areas.

Breeding and Nesting

Red-eyed Vireo: Three to five white eggs with black and brown spots at larger end are laid in a cup nest made of bark, grass, spider webs, and other plant materials, and suspended in the fork of a horizontal branch 2 to 60 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Red-eyed Vireo: Consumes large quantities of insects, especially caterpillars of gypsy moths and fall webworms; also eats fruits in winter; gleans insects from tree foliage, sometimes hovering while foraging.

Vocalization

Red-eyed Vireo: Song is a series of repeated phrases and pauses, "look up...see me?...over here...this way...do you hear me?...higher still!" Call is a whining, nasal "chewy."

Similar Species

Red-eyed Vireo: Black-whiskered Vireo has distinct moustache stripe. Other similar vireos lack red eyes.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

Eyebrow

Also called the supercilicum or superciliary it is the arch of feathers over each eye.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America