Red-eyed Vireo

Vireo olivaceus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family VIREONIDAE

Menu

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

One of the most common birds of the Eastern forests, the Red-eyed Vireo is heard far more than it is seen. It sings continuously from the forest canopy from dawn to dusk. The vireo's song is a series of phrases interspaced with short pauses, like the song of an American Robin broken into pieces.

Cool Facts

• Although animal food makes up 85 percent of its summer diet, the Red-eyed Vireo may be completely frugivorous (fruit-eating) during the winter.

• The Red-eyed Vireo is a common host to the Brown-headed Cowbird, which lays its eggs in the vireo's nest.

• Red-eyed Vireos living year-round in South America may be a separate species.

Description

• Size: 12-13 cm (5-5 in)
• Wingspan: 23-25 cm (9-10 in)
• Weight: 12-26 g (0.42-0.92 ounces)

• Small drab bird.
• Back olive-green, whiter underneath.
• Crown gray to bluegray.
• Eyebrow white with black stripe through the eye.
• Eyes dark red.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage, but males average slightly larger.

Immature

Immature has brown eyes and yellower underparts.

Sound

Song: a broken series of slurred notes. Each phrase usually ends in either a downslur or an upswing, as if the bird asks a question, then answers it, over and over. Call: a catbird-like "myaah."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southeastern Alaska, Yukon, and British Columbia eastward to Newfoundland, and from Canada southward to Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, eastern Texas and Florida. Also populations resident in South America.

Winter Range

Winters in northern South America in the Amazon Basin.

Habitat

• Breeds in deciduous and mixed deciduous forests.
• More abundant in forest interior.
• Lives in urban areas and parks with large trees.

Food

Insects, especially caterpillars, and small fruits.

Behavior

Foraging

Searches for prey while moving along branches, flies to new areas to search. Kills larger prey by crushing or beating it against branch. Holds food with foot while eating.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup suspended from a forked tree branch. Made of twigs, bark strips, grasses, pine needles, and lichen held together with spider web. Inner lining of grasses, plant fibers, and hair.

Egg Description

Dull white speckled with reddish brown.

Clutch Size

Usually 1-5 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with eyes closed.

Conservation Status

Abundant and widespread, increasing in many areas.

Other Names

Viréo aux yeux rouges (French)
Vireo ojirrojo norteño, Vireo ojo rojo (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Cimprich, D. A., F. R. Moore, and M. P. Guilfoyle. 2000. Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus). In The Birds of North America, No. 527 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.