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Red-eyed Vireo (VI-ree-oh) Vireo olivaceus Family: Vireonidae (Vireos)  |
Description: Broadly translated, the Latin meaning for Vireo is "green." Both the male and female have a gray crown, white supercilium (eyebrow) is bordered by a darker stripe above, and an eye line below. Their back and upper wings are a solid olive-green /brown (without wing bars) with white underparts. Its thick beak has a delicate hook at the end of the upper mandible ("mandible" can refer to the upper or lower part of the beak). Young vireos have brownish eyes which become red when they're adults. The Red-eyed Vireo feeds as it sings during the daytime. Nesting: Nest is woven cup of grass/plant fiber, covered with spider web. The Brown-headed Cowbird particularly picks on the Vireo nest (the Red-eyed and the Solitary Vireo) for laying and abandoning their eggs. The Cowbird eggs hatch more quickly than most species, so these young usually have an edge on food. Sometimes this advantage of size and age provides a survival edge at the expense of their fellow non-cowbird hatchlings. One unproven theory as to why the cowbird chooses certain nests is that these other homes belong to parents who are more stationary - necessary for incubation and raising young. The Cowbird, by nature, is a traveling bird and it is against its instinct to be sedentary. Range: (May - October) Migrates from South America to breed as far north as Canada.
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Size: 5-6 inches Diet: Insects, spiders, berries, seeds Habitat: Treetops or the forest canopy Call: Scolding "meew" usually heard in the afternoon. Breeding Song: "cher-eep, cher-eep" repeated 40x a minute, all day long until end of July. |
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