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Thick-billed Vireo

Vireo crassirostrisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Vireos (Vireonidae)

Thick-billed Vireo Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Thick-billed Vireo: Medium-sized vireo with olive-green upperparts, brown or gray-brown iris, broken dull white spectacles, and pale yellow underparts shading to white undertail. Wings brown with two white bars. Bill is large and gray. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Thick-billed Vireo: Accidental or casual in southeastern Florida and the Florida Keys; common in the Caribbean. Preferred habitats include thickets and dense undergrowth.

Voice Text

"chip-chip-WEEEoo-chip", "waaa, waaa, waaa"

Interesting Facts

 The Thick-billed Vireo was first described by Henry Bryant, an American physician and naturalist in 1859.

 Its song is a variable and rapid six to seven note phrase, starting and ending with a sharp "chick".

 The diet of this species consists almost exclusively of insects.

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



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Thick-billed 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 Vireos and Allies (Vireonidae)_blue
Species Vireo crassirostris
Length5 - 6 Inches
Wingspan8.5 Inches

Thick-billed Vireo

Thick-billed Vireo: Medium vireo, olive-green upperparts, brown or gray-brown iris, broken dull white spectacles, pale yellow underparts shading to white undertail. Wings brown with two white bars. Large, gray bill. Most often heard, not seen. Frequents dense undergrowth and thickets.

● Song: "chip-chip-WEEEoo-chip", "waaa, waaa, waaa"

● Foraging & Feeding: Thick-billed Vireo: Eats insects, spiders, small fruits, and berries. Forages low, mostly from 2 to 12 feet above the ground, in shrubbery, thickets, dense undergrowth, and trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Thick-billed Vireo: Two to three white or light pink eggs marked faintly with black or red spots are laid in a nest made of grass, covered on the outside with moss, bark, and bits of paper or rag, and lined with soft plant fibers, down, and grass; nest is usually built near the end of a tree branch. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Thick-billed Vireo: White-eyed Vireo is smaller with smaller black bill, white iris, olive-gray upperparts, gray head and nape, white underparts with yellow wash on sides and flanks, and complete yellow spectacles.

Flight Pattern

Relatively rapid direct flight on short rounded wings.
Thick-billed Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Thick-billed Vireo: Accidental or casual in southeastern Florida and the Florida Keys; common in the Caribbean. Preferred habitats include thickets and dense undergrowth.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationAccidental to casual
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight0.5 Ounces