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Red-eyed Vireo

Vireo olivaceusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Vireos (Vireonidae)
Red-eyed Vireo Breeding Male Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye Color: Brown until the end of first winter, varying shades of red in adult.
  • Head Pattern: Eyeline, Plain, Striped
  • Crown Color: Gray
  • Forehead Color: Gray
  • Nape Color: Olive-brown
  • Throat Color: White
  • Cere color: No Data
Red-eyed Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 15 cm (6 in)
  • Weight: 17 g (0.6 oz)
  • Size: Size 2. Small (5 - 9 in)
  • Color: Green, White, Gray
  • Underparts: White
  • Upperparts: Olive-green
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Red-eyed Vireo Breeding Male Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Alternates several rapid shallow wing beats with short glides.
  • Wingspan Range: 25 cm (10 in)
  • Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Pointed Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Dark olive-green
  • Under Tail: White coverts.
  • Leg Color: Blue-gray
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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