General

Gray Vireo: Medium-sized vireo with gray upperparts, faint white spectacles, dark iris, and dull white underparts. Wings are dark gray with indistinct white bars. Sideways twitching of tail is unique among vireos and is reminiscent of gnatcatchers. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Gray Vireo: Breeds from southern California east to Utah, south to western Texas and Baja California. Spends winters south of U.S.-Mexico border. Frequents dry brush, especially juniper, in the pinyon- and juniper-covered slopes of the southwestern mountains; also found in scrub oak and other types of chaparral.

Breeding and Nesting

Gray Vireo: Three to five pink eggs with brown spots concentrated at larger end are laid in a nest made of grass, twigs, shredded bark, leaves, spider webs, and insect cocoons, lined with fine grass, and built from 2 to 6 feet above the ground in a shrub. Incubation ranges from 13 to 14 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Gray Vireo: Feeds on variety of insects, which it gleans from branches, foliage, or the ground; forages in low undergrowth.

Vocalization

Gray Vireo: Song is a musical, hesitant, and slightly jerky "chu-wee, chu-wee, che-weet, chee, ch-churr-weet." Call is "churr" or "schray."

Similar Species

Gray Vireo: Plumbeous Vireo has shorter tail, not pumped or flicked, bold white spectacles, two bold wing-bars, and olive-gray wash and streaks on sides and flanks. Bell's Vireo is smaller, has two faint wing-bars, faint white spectacles, olive-brown to gray upperparts, and yellow to white underparts.