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Red-eyed Vireo

Vireo olivaceusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Vireos (Vireonidae)

Red-eyed Vireo Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Red-eyed Vireo: Medium-sized vireo with olive-brown upperparts and white underparts. Head has a gray cap, white eyebrow, black eyestripe, and red eyes. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown eyes and yellow-washed underparts.

Range and Habitat

Red-eyed Vireo: Breeds from British Columbia, Ontario, and Gulf of Saint Lawrence south to Oregon, Colorado, the Gulf Coast, and Florida. Spends winters in the tropics. Inhabits mature deciduous woodlands; also found in shade trees in residential areas.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"look up!...see me?...over here!...this way!...do you hear me?...higher still!", "chewy."

Interesting Facts

 A group of red-eyed vireos are collectively known as a "hangover" of vireos.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Red-eyed Vireo
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Vireo (Sylviidae)_blue
Species Vireo olivaceus
Length6 Inches
Wingspan10 Inches

Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo: Medium vireo with olive-brown upperparts and white underparts. Head has a gray cap, white eyebrow, black eyestripe, and red eyes. Blue-gray legs and feet. Alternates short glides with series of rapid wingbeats. May hover briefly to pick berries or insects from foliage.

● Song: "look up!...see me?...over here!...this way!...do you hear me?...higher still!", "chewy."

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-eyed Vireo: Consumes large quantities of insects, especially caterpillars of gypsy moths and fall webworms; also eats fruits in winter; gleans insects from tree foliage, sometimes hovering while foraging.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-eyed Vireo: Three to five white eggs with black and brown spots at larger end are laid in a cup nest made of bark, grass, spider webs, and other plant materials, and suspended in the fork of a horizontal branch 2 to 60 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Red-eyed Vireo: Black-whiskered Vireo has distinct moustache stripe. Other similar vireos lack red eyes.

Flight Pattern

Alternates several rapid shallow wing beats with short glides.
Red-eyed Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Red-eyed Vireo: Breeds from British Columbia, Ontario, and Gulf of Saint Lawrence south to Oregon, Colorado, the Gulf Coast, and Florida. Spends winters in the tropics. Inhabits mature deciduous woodlands; also found in shade trees in residential areas.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationDeclining
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.6 Ounces