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Black-whiskered Vireo

Vireo altiloquusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Vireos (Vireonidae)

Black-whiskered Vireo Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Black-whiskered Vireo: Large vireo with olive-green upperparts and olive-buff washed white underparts. Head has gray crown, dark whisker (moustache stripe) along sides of throat, white eyebrow with black border, and red-brown eyes. Bill is black, straight, and slightly hooked. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown eyes and more yellow on underparts.

Range and Habitat

Black-whiskered Vireo: Breeds in southern Florida and West Indies. Spends winters in tropics. Preferred habitats include mangroves, thick scrub, and shade trees.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"Whip-tom-KELLY!", "John-to-whit", "cheap-john-stir-up!", "quee!"

Interesting Facts

 The Florida race V. a. barbatulus is shorter-billed by 15% than the northern Caribbean subspecies V. a. bonairensis.

 The latter form has occurred in the USA as a vagrant to Florida and Louisiana.

 This bird suffers from nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird in its US range, and Shiny Cowbird further south.

 A group of vireos are collectively known as a "call" of vireos.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Black-whiskered 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 altiloquus
Length5 - 6.5 Inches
Wingspan10.5 Inches

Black-whiskered Vireo

Black-whiskered Vireo: Large vireo with olive-green upperparts and olive-buff washed white underparts. The head has gray crown, dark whiskers (moustache stripe) along sides of throat, white eyebrow with black border, and red-brown eyes. The bill is black, straight, and slightly hooked.

● Song: "Whip-tom-KELLY!", "John-to-whit", "cheap-john-stir-up!", "quee!"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-whiskered Vireo: Eats a variety of insects but also takes some spiders and fruits; forages slowly and deliberately, picking food from leaves and branches.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-whiskered Vireo: Two to three white eggs with fine brown, purple, and black specks are laid in a nest made of twigs, grass, plant fibers, spider webs, cocoons, and lichens, lined with grass, pine needles, and hair, and built from 3 to 20 feet above the ground on a thin branch of a shrub or tree. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Black-whiskered Vireo: Red-eyed Vireo is smaller, has shorter bill, white behind eye with dark border, dark gray crown, darker back, and lacks dark moustache stripe.

Flight Pattern

Relatively fast direct flight with shallow, rapid wing beats.
Black-whiskered Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Black-whiskered Vireo: Breeds in southern Florida and West Indies. Spends winters in tropics. Preferred habitats include mangroves, thick scrub, and shade trees.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common to common
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.6 Ounces