Adult. Photo: Tim Zurowski/Shutterstock
Vireo cassinii
| Conservation status | Widespread and common, numbers apparently stable. |
|---|---|
| Family | Vireos |
| Habitat | Coniferous, deciduous, and mixed woods. Breeds in rather open woods. Often found in oaks near the coast, in ponderosa pines and Douglas-firs in the interior, but may be in mixed coniferous-deciduous woods anywhere. Migrants occur in any kind of woodland. |
Forages rather deliberately in trees, searching for insects along branches and twigs as well as among leaves. Sometimes flies out to catch insects in mid-air, or searches for items on bark of major limbs.
3-5, usually 4. Whitish, lightly spotted with brown. Incubation is by both parents, about 12-14 days. Nests are often parasitized by cowbirds. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave the nest about 2 weeks after hatching.
Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave the nest about 2 weeks after hatching.
Mostly insects. In summer feeds almost entirely on insects. True bugs (including stink bugs, treehoppers, and leafhoppers) are major items in diet; so are caterpillars, beetles, wasps, bees, ants, and others; also spiders. May eat a few small fruits and berries in winter.
Male sings frequently throughout the day to defend nesting territory. In courtship display, male may fluff up plumage and bob his body up and down. Nest: Placed in horizontal fork of branch in tree, usually near the tip, and often 15 to 20' above the ground. Nest (built by both sexes) is a rather bulky open cup, suspended by its rim. Nest is made of grass, strips of bark, rootlets, lined with fine grasses and plant fibers. Outside of nest may be decorated with moss, lichens, pieces of paper.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
Speak out against the Yazoo Backwater Pumps which would drain 200,000 acres of crucial bird habitat.
Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news.
Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program.
Our email newsletter shares the latest programs and initiatives.
