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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

 Red-eyed Vireos were once considered one of the three most abundant bird of the forests of Eastern North America.

 The males are among the most persistent singers of all birds and have been recorded singing more than 10,000 songs a day in spring.

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

 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