Red-eyed Vireo
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| Red-eyed Vireo | ||||||||||||||
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| Vireo olivaceus (Linnaeus,, 1766) |
The Red-eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus, is a small songbird.
Adults are mainly olive-green on the upperparts with white underparts; they have red eyes and a grey crown edged with black. There is a dark line through the eyes and a white stripe just over them. They have thick blue-grey legs and a stout bill. They are yellowish on the flanks and under their tail.
Their breeding habitat is open wooded areas across Canada and the eastern and northwestern United States; there is also a South American population. They make a cup nest in a fork of a tree branch.
North American birds migrate to South America. South American birds move north to Central America. This vireo is one of the more frequent American passerine vagrants to western Europe, with more than one hundred records, mainly in Ireland and Great Britain.
They glean insects, favouring caterpillars and aphids, from tree foliage, sometimes hovering while foraging. They also eat berries, especially before migration.
This bird, not always seen, may sing for long periods of time; it appears to be endlessly repeating the same question and answer.
The three South American races have a simpler song, and a different wing formula. They are sometimes split as the Chivi Vireo ( Vireo chivi). The three forms concerned are V.o. tobagoensis, a large form endemic to Tobago, V. o. chivi and V.o. vividior.
This bird suffers from nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird in its northern range, and Shiny Cowbird further south.