Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo
Scientific Classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family:Vireonidae
Genus:Vireo
Species:solitarius
Binomial name
Vireo solitarius

The Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo solitarius, is a small songbird.

Adults are mainly olive on the upperparts with white underparts and yellowish flanks; they have a grey head, dark eyes with white "spectacles" and white wing bars. They have a stout bill and thick blue-grey legs. This bird, along with the Cassin's Vireo and Plumbeous Vireo, were formerly known as the Solitary Vireo.

Their breeding habitat is open mixed deciduous and coniferous woods in Canada east of the Rockies and the northeastern United States. They make a bulky cup nest suspended from a fork in tree branch. The male helps with incubation and may sing from the nest.

These birds migrate to the southern United States south to Central America.

They forage for insects in the upper parts of trees, sometimes flying out to catch them. They also eat some berries, especially in winter.