The thick-billed vireo (''Vireo crassirostris'') is a small

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

. It breeds in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

, Tortuga Island in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...

and on cays off the coast of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

. It occasionally can be found as a vagrant to south

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

''V. c. approximans'' of

Providencia Island Isla de Providencia, historically Old Providence, and generally known as Providencia, is a mountainous Caribbean island that is part of the Colombian department of Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina and the municipality o ...

is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the mangrove vireo (''V. pallens'') or as a separate species, the Providencia vireo.

Breeding

This vireo frequents bushes and shrubs in tropical thickets. The grass-lined nest is a neat cup shape, attached to a fork in a tree or bush branch. 2-3 dark-spotted white eggs are laid. Both the male and female incubate the eggs.

Description

The thick-billed vireo is approximately 14 cm in length. Its head and back are a greyish olive, and the underparts are buffy white. The wings and tail are dark, and there are two white wing bars on each wing. The eyes have dark irises. Sexes are similar. It shows a yellow partial spectacle just above the bill. There are five subspeciesaccording to the University of Michigan Zoology Dept.: Vireo crassirostris crassirostris Vireo crassirostris stalagmium Vireo crassirostris crassirostris Vireo crassirostris alleni Vireo crassirostris tortugae

Call

The thick-billed vireos song is a variable and rapid six to seven note phrase, starting and ending with a sharp ''chick'', very similar to the white-eyed vireo, but slightly harsher in sound.

Diet

The diet of this species consists almost exclusively of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2667730 thick-billed vireo Endemic birds of the Caribbean Birds of the Bahamas Birds of the Cayman Islands Birds of Haiti Birds of the Turks and Caicos Islands thick-billed vireo Taxa named by Henry Bryant (naturalist) University of MichiganMuseum of Zoology