The vireos make up a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized

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 ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s found in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

(Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The family contains 62 species and is divided into eight

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. "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 The Eurasian golden oriole (''Oriolus oriolus''), also called the common golden oriole, is the only member of the Old World oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and ...

, possibly the

European greenfinch The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (''Chloris chloris'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some norther ...

. They are typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color, the smaller species resembling wood warblers apart from their heavier bills. They range in size from the

Chocó vireo The Chocó vireo (''Vireo masteri'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae that was discovered by Paul Salaman in 1991 and described in 1996. It is found in western Colombia and has recently been found in north-west Ecuador. Its natural h ...

, dwarf vireo and

lesser greenlet The lesser greenlet (''Pachysylvia decurtata'') is a small passerine bird in the vireo family. It breeds from northeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador. This is a common species of lowlands and foothills up to altitude, where it inhabits fo ...

, all at around 10 cm and 8g, to the peppershrikes and

shrike-vireo ''Vireolanius'' is a genus of bird in the family Vireonidae. Species It contains the following species: Vireolanius, Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Taxonomy articles created by P ...

s at up to 17 cm and 40g.Forshaw, Joseph & Parkes, Kenneth C. 1991. ''Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds,'' p. 209. Merehurst Press, London.

Distribution and habitat

Most species are found in Middle America and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Thirteen species of true vireos occur farther north, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and

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 ...

; of these all but

Hutton's vireo Hutton's vireo (''Vireo huttoni'') is a small songbird. It is approximately 5 inches (12–13 cm) in length, dull olive-gray above and below. It has a faint white eye ring and faint white wing bars. It closely resembles a ruby-crowned king ...

are migratory. Members of the family seldom fly long distances except in migration.Salaman, Paul & Barlow, Jon C. 2003. Vireos. Pp. 478–479 in; Perrins, C. ed. ''The Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds''. Firefly Books, Oxford. They inhabit forest environments, with different species preferring forest canopies, undergrowth, or

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

swamps. A few species in the genus ''Vireo'' have appeared on the eastern side of the Atlantic as vagrants to the Western Palearctic.

Behaviour

The resident species occur in pairs or family groups that maintain territories all year (except Hutton's vireo, which joins mixed feeding flocks). Most of the migrants defend winter territories against conspecifics. The exceptions are the complex comprising the

red-eyed vireo The red-eyed vireo (''Vireo olivaceus'') is a small American songbird. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUC ...

, the

yellow-green vireo The yellow-green vireo (''Vireo flavoviridis'') is a small American passerine bird. It is migratory breeding from Mexico to Panama and wintering in the northern and eastern Andes and the western Amazon Basin. Taxonomy The yellow-green vireo was ...

, the

black-whiskered vireo The black-whiskered vireo (''Vireo altiloquus'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in southern Florida, USA, and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela. It is a partial migrant, with northern birds wintering fr ...

, and the

Yucatan vireo The Yucatan vireo (''Vireo magister'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae. Closely related to the red-eyed vireo, its plumage a duller overall. It measures . It has a stout, hooked bill that is gray, paler at the base. A broad white e ...

, which winter in small wandering flocks.

Voice

Males of most species are persistent singers. Songs are usually rather simple, monotonous in some species of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

littoral and islands, and most elaborate and pleasant to human ears in the

and the peppershrikes.

Breeding

The nests of many tropical species are unknown. Of those that are known, all build a cup-shaped nest that hangs from branches. The female does most of the incubation, spelled by the male except in the red-eyed vireo complex.

Feeding

All members of the family eat some fruit but mostly

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 and other

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s. They take prey from leaves and branches; true vireos also flycatch, and the

gray vireo The gray vireo (''Vireo vicinior'') is a small North American passerine bird. It breeds from the southwestern United States and northern Baja California to western Texas. It is a migrant, wintering in northwestern Mexico, in western Sonora state ...

takes 5 percent of its prey from the ground.

Systematics

The

Vireonidae is related to the crow-like birds in family

Corvidae Corvidae is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan Family (biology), family of Songbird, oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, Rook (bird), rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and Nutcracker (bird), nutcrackers ...

and the shrikes in family

Laniidae Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in two genera. The family name, and that of the larger genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known ...

as part of superfamily

Corvoidea Corvoidea is a superfamily of birds in the order of Passeriformes. Systematics Corvoidea contains the following families: * Vireonidae – vireos * Rhipiduridae – fantails * Dicruridae – drongos * Monarchidae – monarch flycatchers * ...

. As currently circumscribed the family is made up of eight genera. Traditionally the family was considered to include four New World genera containing the true vireos ('' Vireo''), the greenlets ('' Hylophilus''), the shrike-vireos (''

Vireolanius ''Vireolanius'' is a genus of bird in the family Vireonidae The vireos make up a family (biology), family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World (Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indi ...

'') and the peppershrikes ('' Cyclarhis''). However, phylogenetic studies found '' Hylophilus'' to be polyphyletic, with the greenlets split into three distinct groups: the "scrub" greenlets in a restricted ''Hylophilus'', the "canopy" greenlets in resurrected genus ''

Pachysylvia ''Pachysylvia'' is a genus of bird in the family Vireonidae. Species It contains the following species: References External links

* Pachysylvia, Vireonidae Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte {{Vireonidae-stub ...

'' and the tawny-crowned greenlet in new genus '' Tunchiornis''. In addition, biochemical studies have identified two

babbler Babbler may refer to: * Various small passerine birds: ** The Old World babblers, a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds ** The Ground babblers of family Pellorneidae ** Many species in the genera ''Argya'' and ''Turdoides'' in family ...

genera (''

Pteruthius The shrike-babblers are a group of small birds in the genus ''Pteruthius''. They are native to the Indomalayan realm, and were traditionally placed in the family Timaliidae before molecular phylogenetics, molecular phylogenetic studies in 2007 fo ...

'' and '' Erpornis'') which may be

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

members of this family.Reddy, Sushma & Cracraft, Joel (2007): Old World Shrike-babblers (''Pteruthius'') belong with New World Vireos (Vireonidae). ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 44 (3): 1352–1357. Observers have commented on the vireo-like behaviour of the ''Pteruthius'' shrike-babblers, but apparently no-one suspected the biogeographically unlikely possibility of vireo relatives in Asia. Some recent taxonomic treatements, such as the IOC taxonomy followed here, include ''Pteruthius'' and ''Erpornis'' in Vireionidae, whereas other place them in their own families Pteruthidae and Erpornidae.

Species in taxonomic order

References

External links

Vireos (Vireonidae)
information, including 33 species with videos and 40 with photographs at the Internet Bird Collection * {{Authority control Birds of the Americas