Grey Vireo

Overview

The Grey Vireo (Vireo vicinior) is a small North American passerine bird belonging to the family Vireonidae. It inhabits dry landscapes in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it has been assessed as being of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Identification

• Measures 13 to 15 cm in length with a weight of 11.5 to 13.5 g.
• Adults possess a mostly grey crown and face with white lores and a thin white eye-ring; upperparts are grey, sometimes with a greenish cast.
• Wings are dark grey to blackish with a white wing bar formed by tips on the greater coverts; legs and feet are plumbeous or blue-grey.
• Males sing a variable "che wi, chee wi, choo" call, while both sexes produce a descending trill and a "chickadee-like zu-zu-zu" call.

Habitat

The species inhabits a variety of dry landscapes, including oak-juniper and pinyon-juniper woodlands, chaparral, and thorn scrub. It is found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, typically at elevations between 1,600 and 2,300 m, though it can occur as low as 400 m in northern Mexico.

Diet

In its breeding range, the bird feeds mainly on arthropods, but those wintering in southwestern Arizona and Sonora primarily feed on fruit. It forages in thick vegetation within 4 m of the ground, using methods such as gleaning from foliage, snatching while hovering, hawking in mid-air, and pouncing from a perch.

Did you know?

Nests are often abandoned if a brown-headed cowbird lays an egg in them due to brood parasitism.