White-eyed Vireo

Overview

The white-eyed vireo (Vireo griseus) is a small songbird of the family Vireonidae. It is a widespread species found across the eastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and parts of the Caribbean, with a population status of Least Concern.

Identification

• Length of 11–13 cm and weight of 10–14 g.
• Greyish olive head and back, white underparts with yellow flanks.
• Dark wings and tail featuring two white wing bars on each wing.
• White irises surrounded by distinct yellow spectacles.
• Highly variable song consisting of a rapid series of notes bookended by sharp 'chip' notes.

Habitat

Breeds in the eastern United States from New England west to northern Missouri and south to Texas and Florida, as well as in eastern Mexico, northern Central America, Cuba and the Bahamas. The bird frequents bushes and shrubs in abandoned cultivation or overgrown pastures, often nesting near the ground in tangled thickets.

Diet

During the breeding season, its diet consists almost exclusively of insects, primarily caterpillars and stink bugs, with beetles, flies, wasps, snails, and rarely small vertebrates. In autumn and winter, it supplements its insect diet with berries.

Did you know?

The Bermuda subspecies is known locally as the 'Chick of the Village' and, along with other native birds, faced extinction threats after the loss of eight million Bermuda cedar trees in the 1940s.