Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Doug Wechsler/Vireo
Yellow-green Vireo
Vireo flavoviridis
| Conservation status | Apparently always has been rare in Texas. In Mexico and Central America, widespread and common, but could be vulnerable to loss of habitat. |
|---|---|
| Family | Vireos |
| Habitat | Resaca woodlands, shade trees. In Texas, a rare nesting bird, usually in native woods near oxbow lakes (resacas) or in shade trees in towns. In Mexico and Central America, breeds in many kinds of open woods, mature forest, second growth, edges of clearings. Winters in lowland tropical forest in South America. |
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Feeding Behavior
Forages by searching for insects among the foliage, often hovering briefly to pick insects from the undersides of leaves.
Eggs
Usually 3, sometimes 2. White, with specks of brown. Incubation is by female alone, 13-14 days. Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave the nest 12-14 days after hatching, but can fly only poorly at this stage.
Young
Both parents feed the nestlings. Young leave the nest 12-14 days after hatching, but can fly only poorly at this stage.
Diet
Mostly insects and spiders, some berries. Feeds on a wide variety of insects, including tree crickets and various smooth caterpillars, also many others. Also eats many spiders. Diet includes berries and small fruits, including those of mistletoe, and some seeds, including those of the tropical shrub Clusia.
Nesting
Details of the breeding behavior have not been well studied. Males sing persistently in spring and summer to defend the nesting territory. Nest: Placed 5-40' above the ground in branch of tree or shrub. Nest (built by female alone) is a neatly built open cup, with its rim woven onto a horizontal forked twig. Nest is made of grass blades, plant fibers, cobwebs, strips of papery bark, the outside often heavily decorated with spiderwebs; lined with fine plant fibers.
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Songs and Calls
A series of deliberate, musical phrases, more widely spaced than in song of Red-eyed Vireo.Yellow-green Vireo In the News More News
Birding
A Life in Pursuit of Vireos
An illustrious birder outlines the highs (and lows) of chasing these songbirds of summer.
