Plumbeous Vireo

Vireo plumbeus

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

A common and vocal bird of montane forests, the Plumbeous Vireo is found primarily in the southern Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin. Formerly lumped as a "Solitary Vireo" with Cassin's and Blue-headed vireos, it is now considered a separate species.

Cool Facts

• The Plumbeous Vireo is the middle form in the "Solitary Vireo" complex. Formerly considered one species, three species now are recognized. In appearance it is the dullest of the three, and it has the hoarsest song, which is very similar to that of the Yellow-throated Vireo.
• Although the Plumbeous Vireo used to be considered in the same species as Cassin's Vireo, and they both occur in the same area on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada of California, no cases of hybridization of the two are known.

Description

• Size: 12-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Weight: 12-20 g (0.42-0.71 ounces)

• Small songbird, medium-sized vireo.
• Dull gray head and back.
• White spectacles.
• Two whitish wingbars.
• Belly white, flanks gray.

• Back gray, not contrasting with hood.
• Rump olive green.
• Flanks may be yellowish in some individuals.
• Bill black with bluish gray base.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs bluish gray.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Immature similar to adult.

Similar Species

• Gray Vireo smaller and slimmer, shows one wingbar rathern than two, and has only a faint eyering.
• Blue-headed and Cassin's vireos have green back contrasting with a darker hood, and yellow flanks.

Sound

Song a broken series of burry two- and three-syllable phrases.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southern Montana and southern Idaho southward to Mexico and Guatemala.

Winter Range

Winters in Mexico and Central America.

Habitat

Montane coniferous and mixed forests, and riparian woodlands in arid intermontane basins.

Food

Insects, some fruit in winter.

Behavior

Foraging

Gleans insects from twigs and foliage. Forages in slow and deliberate manner. Some hovering and flycatching.

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, rootlets, and hair, decorated with cocoons, lichens, moss, and catkins. Inner lining of grasses and fine rootlets.

Egg Description

Creamy white with sparse dark spots around larger end.

Clutch Size

Usually 4 eggs. Range: 3-5.

Condition at Hatching

Naked and pink, with eyes closed.

Conservation Status

Populations stable or slightly increasing.

Other Names

Viréo plombé (French)
Vireo plomizo (Spanish)
Solitary Vireo (in part) (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

Curson, D. R., and C. B. Goguen. 1998. Plumbeous Vireo (Vireo plumbeus). In The Birds of North America, No. 366 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.