Adult. Photo: James Watts Jr/Audubon Photography Awards
Vireo gilvus
| Conservation status | Since it favors open woods and edges, probably increased in some areas initially with clearing and breaking up of forest. Now common and widespread. |
|---|---|
| Family | Vireos |
| Habitat | Deciduous and mixed woods, aspen groves, poplars, shade trees. Breeds in open deciduous or mixed woodland; also in orchards, shade trees of towns. Avoids unbroken mature forest. In the East, often in isolated groves near water. In the West, breeds in broad-leaved trees of mountains, canyons, and prairie groves. Winters in the tropics in open woods. |
Forages mostly in deciduous trees, sometimes in shrubs, hopping along twigs and searching for insects among the leaves. also picks insects off the undersides of leaves while hovering briefly.
4, sometimes 3-5. White with brown or black specks. Incubation is by both parents, 12-14 days. Male frequently sings from nest while incubating. Commonly parasitized by cowbirds. Young: Nestlings are fed and brooded by both parents, leave the nest 12-16 days after hatching.
Nestlings are fed and brooded by both parents, leave the nest 12-16 days after hatching.
Mostly insects, some berries. In breeding season feeds mainly on insects, including many caterpillars, plus aphids, beetles, grasshoppers, ants, bugs, scale insects, flies, dragonflies; also eats some spiders and snails. Takes berries and small fruit from bunchberry, dogwood, pokeweed, sumac, elderberry, poison-oak, and many other plants, especially in late summer and fall.
Male defends territory by singing. In courtship, male struts and hops around female with his wings spread and tail fanned, usually not far from potential nest site. Nest: In the East, usually placed high in tree, up to 90'. In the West, often found in shrub or tree within 30' of ground. Generally deciduous tree or shrub. Nest (built by both sexes) is a compact, deep cup, suspended by its rim from a forked twig. Nest made of bark strips, grass, leaves, and plant fibers.
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.
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An illustrious birder outlines the highs (and lows) of chasing these songbirds of summer.
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