Blue-headed Vireo

Vireo solitarius

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family VIREONIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The Blue-headed Vireo is a common and vocal bird of northeastern forests. Formerly lumped as a "Solitary Vireo" with the more western Plumbeous and Cassin's vireos, it is now considered a separate species.

Cool Facts

• The Blue-headed Vireo is the easternmost form in the "Solitary Vireo" complex. Formerly considered one species, three species now are recognized. In appearance it is the most brightly colored of the three.
• The Blue-headed Vireo is the only vireo within its range that makes extensive use of coniferous forests, although it also occupies deciduous habitats.

Description

• Size: 13-15 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 20-24 cm (8-9 in)
• Weight: 13-19 g (0.46-0.67 ounces)

• Small songbird, medium-sized vireo.
• Bluish gray head with white spectacles.
• Two whitish wingbars.
• Belly white.
• Flanks yellowish.

• Back olive-green or grayish green, becoming deep blue-gray on nape, crown, and ear-coverts.
• Two bold yellowish white wingbars.
• Wing and tail feathers black, edged narrowly in yellowish green.
• Upper bill black, lower mandible black or with grayish patch at base.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs bluish gray.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female slightly duller.

Immature

Similar to adult, but averages browner and drabber.

Similar Species

• Cassin's Vireo is very similar, but has brownish gray crown contrasting less sharply with throat and the back; very limited overlap in range.
• Plumbeous Vireo is gray over all upperparts, with only the rump having any greenish, the edging of flight feathers are not yellow, and the flanks have little or no yellow.
• Bell's Vireo lacks a full eyering so does not appear spectacled, has weaker wingbars, and has plumage with more subtle contrasts.

Sound

Song a broken series of slurred notes, with each phrase ending in either a downslur or an upswing, as if the bird asks a question, then answers it, over and over. Includes a few burry notes.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southern Northwest Territories eastward across Canada to Newfoundland, and from northern Minnesota to Connecticut, and southward in Appalachians.

Winter Range

Winters in southeastern United States, from southern Virginia southward to Central America.

Habitat

Cool forests.

Food

Medium to large insects, some fruit in winter.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages in middle levels of forest. Gleans insects from outer twigs and foliage. Forages in slow and deliberate manner.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup suspended by rim from a fork of a branch of a tree or sapling. Woven of spider web, bark strips, grasses, dead leaves, moss, and hair, decorated with spider egg cases and birch bark. Inner lining of grasses, rootlets, and conifer twigs or needles.

Egg Description

Color: Creamy white with sparse dark spots around larger end.

Size: 17-23.1 mm x 13.3-15.8 mm
(0.7-0.9 in x 0.5-0.6 in)

Incubation period: 13-15 days.

Clutch Size

Usually 4 eggs. Range: 3-5.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with tufts of down.
Chicks fledge in 13-14 days.

Conservation Status

Populations increasing slightly.

Other Names

Viréo á tête bleue (French)
Vireo anteojillo (Spanish)
Solitary Vireo (eastern form) (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

James, R. D. 1998. Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius). In The Birds of North America, No. 379 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.