Bird name:

Bell's Vireo

Vireo bellii

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Vireos (Vireonidae)

Code 4

BEVI

Code 6

VIRBEL

ITIS

179003

Breeding Location:

Forest edge, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Yes but uncommon

Egg Color:

White, usually with black or brown spots

Number of Eggs:

3 - 5

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Leaves, grasses, bark, and spider webs., Lined with fine grasses, coarse hairs, feathers, and wool.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Bell's Vireo: Small vireo with faint, broken eye-ring, thick and slightly flattened hooked bill, and two wing bars. Upperparts are gray and underparts are white with pale yellow wash on sides. Eastern race has gray-green upperparts and distinct yellow wash on underparts. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Bell's Vireo: Breeds from southern California, Colorado, Dakotas, and Indiana southward. Absent from eastern third of the U.S. Spends winters along the Pacific coast from northern Mexico south to northern Nicaragua. Preferred habitats include forest undergrowth, streamside thickets, woodland edges, and brushy fields.

Breeding and Nesting

Bell's Vireo: Three to five white eggs, usually spotted black or brown, are laid in a small cup nest made of leaves, grass, bark, and spider webs, and lined with fine grass, coarse hairs, feathers, and wool. Nest is hung from a fork in a tree or shrub or suspended by rim between two limbs, 1 to 5 feet above the ground, rarely higher. Both parents incubate eggs for 14 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Bell's Vireo: Feeds on caterpillars, beetles, bees, wasps, and small spiders. Moves slowly, taking food from branches and leaves.

Vocalization

Bell's Vireo: Song is harsh and squeaky, resembling a series of question-and-answer phrases "zheedle zheedle zheedle zhoo? (pause) zheedle zheedle zheedle zhee!"

Similar Species

Bell's Vireo: Hutton's Vireo has broader wingbars and dull gray underparts. Gray Vireo has a longer tail and more subtle wingbars. White-eyed Vireo has yellow lores and white eyes. Warbling Vireo is larger and has a bolder stripe extending further behind the eye.

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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.

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