General

Plumbeous Vireo: Medium-sized vireo with gray back, white throat and underparts, olive-gray sides, and yellow-washed flanks. Crown, nape, and face are gray; eye-rings appear as large, white spectacles. Wings are dark gray with two white bars. Tail is short with white edges. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Plumbeous Vireo: Breeds from southern Montana and southern Idaho southward to Mexico and Guatemala. Spends winters in Mexico and Central America. Preferred habitats include montane coniferous and mixed forests, and riparian woodlands in arid inter-montane basins.

Breeding and Nesting

Plumbeous Vireo: Three to five white eggs, spotted at larger end with red brown, are laid in a nest made of bark, grass, plant fibers and spider web, lined with fine grass and plant down, and built 4 to 30 feet above the ground near the tip of a branch in a tree or bush. Incubation ranges from 14 to 15 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Plumbeous Vireo: Eats insects and some fruits and berries; forages and perches from mid to high levels in trees, gleaning insects from foliage or bark.

Vocalization

Plumbeous Vireo: Song is a varied, "chureeh, ch-ireet', ch-reeh, cg-ireet", often repeated. Call is a chattering "cheh-cheh-cheh, cheh", often accelerating.

Similar Species

Plumbeous Vireo: Gray Vireo is smaller, slimmer, and has a single wing-bar and faint eye-ring. Blue-headed and Cassin's vireos have green backs contrasting with darker hoods, and yellow flanks.