Bell's Vireo

Bell's Vireo

Bell's Vireo: Small vireo, faint, broken eye-ring, thick, slightly flattened hooked bill, one or two faint wing bars. Upperparts are gray and underparts are white with pale yellow wash on sides. Eastern race has gray-green upperparts and distinct yellow wash on underparts. Legs and feet are gray.

● Song: "zheedle zheedle zheedle zhoo? (pause) zheedle zheedle zheedle zhee!"

● Foraging & Feeding: Bell's Vireo: Feeds on caterpillars, beetles, bees, wasps, and small spiders. Moves slowly, taking food from branches and leaves.

● Breeding & nesting: Bell's Vireo: Three to five white eggs, usually spotted black or brown, are laid in a small cup nest made of leaves, grass, bark, and spider webs, and lined with fine grass, coarse hairs, feathers, and wool. Nest is hung from a fork in a tree or shrub or suspended by rim between two limbs, 1 to 5 feet above the ground, rarely higher. Both parents incubate eggs for 14 days.

● Similar species: Bell's Vireo: Hutton's Vireo has broader wingbars and dull gray underparts. Gray Vireo has a longer tail and more subtle wingbars. White-eyed Vireo has yellow lores and white eyes. Warbling Vireo is larger and has a bolder stripe extending further behind the eye.

Flight Pattern