Birds Posters
Vireo
The sparrow sized vireo is always a pleasant visitor to parks and gardens.
One of the most vocal of small perching birds, vireos will constantly sing as they hop from branch to branch in trees searching the trunks for insects.
There are 51 known species of vireos today.
The warbling vireo is a common vireo in the United States.
It is a rather plain looking bird with a constant warbling song that will enable you to often hear the bird and spend some time looking in nearby trees for it before you actually spot it.
Sadly, like other birds, the population of vireos has been decreasing due to pesticides used around elm trees, their preferred tree in which to nest in.
The vireos are a group of small to medium sized passerine birds restricted to the New World.
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 Choco Vireo, Dwarf Vireo and Lesser Greenlet, all at around 10 centimeters and 8 grams, to the peppershrikes and shrike vireos at up to 17 centimeters and 40 grams.
The best known and most widely distributed species of vireo is the red eyed vireo, which breeds from southern Canada to Argentina.
It is 15 cm long, with a black outlined white eye stripe that contrasts with the bird’s gray crown.
A small and secretive bird of shrubby areas of the eastern and southern United States, the White eyed Vireo is more noticeable for its explosive song than its looks.
The smallest vireo that occurs regularly in the United States, the Black capped Vireo inhabits low scrublands of Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico.
Habitat changes and nest parasitism by Brown headed Cowbirds have caused Black capped Vireo populations to vanish across much of the northern part of
its historic range and it now is listed as Endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.