Red-eyed Vireo
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The red-eyed vireo (''Vireo olivaceus'') is a small American
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 5,00 ...
. It is somewhat
warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers T ...
-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
is not considered threatened by the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
. "Vireo" is a
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole, possibly the European greenfinch. The specific ''olivaceus'' is
Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...
for ''olive-green'', from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''oliva'' "olive".


Description and systematics

Adults are mainly olive-green on the upper parts with white underparts; they have a red iris and a grey crown edged with black. There is a dark blackish line through the eyes and a wide white stripe just above that line. They have thick blue-grey legs and a stout bill. They are yellowish on the flanks and undertail
coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...
(though this is faint in some populations). In the past, the yellow-green vireo (''V. flavoviridis''), the chivi vireo (''V. chivi''), and the Noronha vireo (''V. gracilirostris'') have been considered to be
conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...
with the red-eyed vireo; the chivi vireo was split most recently. Other closely related species include the black-whiskered vireo (''V. altiloquus'') and the Yucatan vireo (''V. magister''). Measurements: Both sexes: * Length: 4.7–5.1 in (12–13 cm) * Weight: 0.4–0.9 oz (12–26 g) * Wingspan: 9.1-9.8 in (23–25 cm)


Song

Red-eyed vireos are one of the most prolific singers in the bird world. They usually sing high up in trees for long periods of time in a question-and-answer rhythm. This species holds the record for most songs given in a single day among bird species, with more than 20,000 songs in one day. Songs generally consist of 1–5 syllables between 2 and 6 kHz. Songs are usually spaced apart by 0.8–1 seconds although at times vireos may sing at a slower or faster rate. Red-eyed vireos have a large repertoire size with one study finding an average of 31.4 song types per bird with one individual singing 73 different song types.


Ecology

The breeding habitat of the red-eyed vireo is in the open wooded areas across
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and the eastern and northwestern United States. These birds
migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
to South America, where they spend the winter. The
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
n population occur in virtually any wooded habitat in their range. Most of these are residents, but the populations breeding in the far southern part of this species' range (e.g. most of its range in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
,
Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
and
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
) migrate north as far as
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
. In northern
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, it seems to return to breed at about the same time as one century ago; but it may leave for winter quarters one or two weeks earlier at present than it did in the past. Red-eyed vireos glean
insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s from tree foliage, favouring
caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
s and
aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...
s and sometimes hovering while foraging. In some
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
regions, they are commonly seen to attend
mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...
s, moving through the forest higher up in the trees than the bulk of such flocks. They also eat berries, especially before migration, and in the winter quarters, where trees bearing popular fruit like tamanqueiro (''Alchornea glandulosa'') or gumbo-limbo (''Bursera simaruba'') will even attract them to parks and gardens. Fruit are typically not picked up from a hover, but the birds often quite acrobatically reach for them, even hanging upside down. The nest is a cup in a fork of a tree branch. The red-eyed vireo suffers from nest
parasitism Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...
by the
brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the souther ...
(''Molothrus ater'') in the north of its range, and by the shiny cowbird (''M. bonariensis'') further south.
Parasitism Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...
by '' Haemoproteus'' and
trypanosoma ''Trypanosoma'' is a genus of kinetoplastids (class Trypanosomatidae), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma is part of the phylum Euglenozoa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ''trypano-'' (b ...
might affect these birds not infrequently, as was noted in studies of birds caught in Parque Nacional de La Macarena and near
Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
(
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
): though only three red-eyed vireos were examined, all were infected with at least one of these parasites.


Vagrancy

The red-eyed vireo is a visitor to some western states, especially California. This vireo is one of the more frequent American
passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
vagrants to
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, with more than one hundred records, mainly in
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
.


Footnotes


References

* Basto, Natalia; Rodríguez, Oscar A.; Marinkelle, Cornelis J.; Gutierrez, Rafael & Matta, Nubia Estela (2006).
Haematozoa in birds from la Macarena National Natural Park (Colombia)
. ''Caldasia'' 28(2): 371–377 nglish with Spanish abstract * Foster, Mercedes S. (2007). The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico. ''Bird Conservation International'' 17(1): 45–61. * Henninger, W.F. (1906).
A preliminary list of the birds of Seneca County, Ohio.
'' Wilson Bull.'' 18(2): 47–60
DjVu fulltext
* Londono, Aurora; Pulgarin-R., Paulo C. & Blair, Silva (2007).
Blood Parasites in Birds From the Lowlands of Northern Colombia.
'' Caribb. J. Sci.'' 43(1): 87–93. * Machado, C.G. (1999).
A composição dos bandos mistos de aves na Mata Atlântica da Serra de Paranapiacaba, no sudeste brasileiro [Mixed flocks of birds in Atlantic Rain Forest in Serra de Paranapiacaba, southeastern Brazil].
''Revista Brasileira de Biologia'' 59(1): 75–85 ortuguese with English abstract * Ohio Ornithological Society (OOS) (2004).
Annotated Ohio state checklist. Version of April 2004
* Pascotto, Márcia Cristina (2006)
Avifauna dispersora de sementes de ''Alchornea glandulosa'' (Euphorbiaceae) em uma área de mata ciliar no estado de São Paulo [Seed dispersal of ''Alchornea glandulosa'' (Euphorbiaceae) by birds in a gallery forest in São Paulo, southeastern Brazil].
''Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia'' 14(3): 291–296 ortuguese with English abstract


External links


Red-eyed Vireo - ''Vireo olivaceus''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
Red-eyed Vireo Species Account
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology * (for
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...
,
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
) with RangeMap at bird-stamps.org * * *
Red-eyed Vireo Bird Sound
at Florida Museum of Natural History * {{Taxonbar, from=Q582976 red-eyed vireo Birds of North America Birds of Venezuela Birds of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Wintering birds of South America red-eyed vireo Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus