White-eyed Vireo
Vireo griseus
A small, active vireo of dense shrubbery. Distinctive yellow spectacles contrast with gray head. Also look for two white wingbars, green back, and yellow sides. Adults have white eyes; juveniles have darker gray eyes. Occurs in dense second growth, forest edge, and thickets; more often heard than seen. Listen for the variable, scratchy "chick-burio-chick" song. Primarily occurs in the southeastern U.S., wintering into northern Central America and the Caribbean. Compare with duller olive Thick-billed Vireo in the Caribbean, and plainer Bell's Vireo in the U.S. and Mexico.
Identification
Measurements:<p>Its head and back are a greyish olive, and the underparts are white with yellow flanks. The wings and tail are dark, and there are two white wing bars on each wing. The eyes have white irises, and are surrounded by yellow spectacles. Sexes are similar.
Taxonomy
The white-eyed vireo was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Tanagra grisea in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. Buffon specified that his specimen had come from Louisiana, but in 1945 the type locality was restricted to New Orleans. The white-eyed vireo is now placed in the genus Vireo was introduced in 1808 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. 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. The specific epithet griseus is Medieval Latin for grey.<p>Six subspecies are recognised:<p>The northern subspecies, V. g. noveboracensis, occupies most of the range of this species and is fully migratory. This sub-species is larger and has more brightly colored plumage than all other subspecies.<p>The resident southeastern coastal plain race, V. g. griseus is a slightly smaller and duller colored subspecies. It does not typically migrate out of its breeding range in the winter.<p>The resident Florida Keys race, V. g. maynardi, is greyer above and whiter below, and the south Texan V. g. micrus is like a smaller maynardi.<p>V. g. bermudianus is endemic to Bermuda, where it is known as the Chick of the Village. This has shorter wings and a duller plumage. Along with other endemic and native Bermudian birds, it was threatened with extinction following the loss of 8 million Bermuda cedar trees in the 1940s, and is now quite rare. This species is listed under the Bermuda Protected Species Act 2003.
- Scientific name
- Vireo griseus
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Vireonidae
- Genus
- Vireo
Range and habitat
It breeds in the 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. Populations on the US Gulf Coast and further south are resident, but most North American birds migrate south in winter. This vireo frequents bushes and shrubs in abandoned cultivation or overgrown pastures.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Red-headed Fody
Foudia eminentissima
A sparrow-like weaver. Red-hooded breeding males are distinctive, but females and non-breeding males are drab. A Comoros endemic that is found in and adjacent to humid forest on the western three islands, and in drier, scrubby lowland habitats on Mayotte. Plumage varies across the different islands. The most distinctive birds, on Grand Comoro, have much less red on the breast than other populations. Can be very similar to Red Fody. Breeding male Red-headed Fody lacks red on the back and belly, though molting male Red Fody can match this pattern. Females and non-breeding males very similar to Red Fody, but Red-headed Fody is larger, darker, and more greenish, with a longer, slightly curved bill. Also similar to female House Sparrow, but distinguished by the more olive-green coloration and the longer bill. Calls are high, silvery notes, given in long series as a song.
Spectacled Petrel
Procellaria conspicillata
Large, stocky, dark petrel. Look for the diagnostic pattern of white “spectacles” on the face. In flight, alternates slow wing beats with glides. Usually seen well offshore in relatively warm waters. Breeds only on Inaccessible Island. The closely-related White-chinned Petrel lacks the white face pattern.
Blue-black Grassquit
Volatinia jacarina
Fairly common little bird of weedy and brushy fields, farmland, and other open grassy areas in tropical lowlands and foothills. Note the very small size, brown plumage, and streaky breast, plus the pointed conical bill. Male’s blue-black breeding plumage is worn only in the summer wet season; molting birds and immatures are patchy blue-black and brown. In song display, male leaps into the air from grass stalk or fence, uttering a short buzzy phrase, repeated over and over.
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