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Cassin's Vireo

Vireo cassiniiOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Vireos (Vireonidae)
Cassin's Vireo Breeding Male Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye Color: Brown.
  • Head Pattern: Eyeline, Plain, Eyering (complete or broken)
  • Crown Color: Olive-gray
  • Forehead Color: Olive-gray
  • Nape Color: Olive-gray
  • Throat Color: White washed with gray.
  • Cere color: No Data
Cassin's Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 10-15 cm (4-6 in)
  • Weight: 14-17 g (0.5-0.6 oz)
  • Size: Size 2. Small (5 - 9 in)
  • Color: White, Brown, Black, Gray, Olive
  • Underparts: White washed with gray; olive wash on sides.
  • Upperparts: Olive-gray
  • Back Pattern: No Data
  • Belly Pattern: No Data
  • Breast Pattern: No Data
Cassin's Vireo Breeding Male Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Somewhat weak fluttering direct flight on rapidly beating wings. May hover briefly to pick insect or fruit off vegetation.
  • Wingspan Range: 20-23 cm (8-9 in)
  • Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Rounded Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Brown-black
  • Under Tail: White coverts.
  • Leg Color: Blue-gray
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Family Vireos and Allies (Vireonidae)_blue
Species Vireo cassinii
Length4 - 6 Inches
Wingspan8.5 Inches

Cassin's Vireo

Cassin's Vireo: Small vireo, olive-gray upperparts, white underparts, pale yellow flanks. Head is gray with white eye-ring that extends to brow. Wings are dark with two white bars. Until the 1990s was classified as the Solitary Vireo, along with the Blue-headed and Plumbeous Vireos.

● Song: "chreuÂ… ch'reeÂ… choo'reet" or "chreeÂ… ch-ri'chi-roo"

● Foraging & Feeding: Cassin's Vireo: Eats insects and fruits. Forages high in trees by gleaning food from bark, branches, or foliage, sometimes hovering briefly to pick food off vegetation or catch insects in flight.

● Breeding & nesting: Cassin's Vireo: Three to five creamy white eggs with black and brown speckles are laid in a nest made of twigs, fine grass, and stems, lined with finer grass and hair, and built 4 to 30 feet above the ground in a tree or bush. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Cassin's Vireo: Blue-headed Vireo has blue-gray crown contrasting more sharply with throat and back. Plumbeous Vireo lacks green hues except on rump, yellow edges on flight feathers, and yellow on flanks. Hutton's Vireo is smaller with incomplete eye-ring, dingier underparts, and less contrasting plumage. Bell's Vireo lacks full eye-ring and has weaker wing-bars.

Flight Pattern

Somewhat weak fluttering direct flight on rapidly beating wings. May hover briefly to pick insect or fruit off vegetation.
Cassin's Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Cassin's Vireo: Breeds from British Columbia and southwestern Alberta south to central Idaho and along the west coast to southern California. Most leave the U.S. in fall but a small number spend winter in southeastern Arizona; prefers dry, open forests in mountains and foothills.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.5 - 0.6 Ounces