Results for Bell's Vireo
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Animal Encyclopedia:

Bell's vireo

Vireo bellii

TAXONOMY

Vireo bellii Audubon, 1844.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

French: Viréo de Bell; German: Braunaugenvireo; Spanish: Vireo de Bell.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

4 in (11 cm). A relatively small and dull-colored vireo, with olive-gray upperparts, white underneath, a broken (or incomplete) white eye-ring, and faint whitish wing-bars.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeds in the southwestern and central United States and south to parts of northern Mexico; winters from Baja California to Honduras.

HABITAT

Shrubby vegetation, such as thickets of willows and mesquite, especially in riparian habitat near streams and rivers.

BEHAVIOR

A migratory species that defends a breeding territory. The song is a loud, high-pitched, melodious series of simple phrases.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Feeds actively on invertebrates in foliage, flowers, and limb surfaces. Also eats small berries when invertebrates are not abundant.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Builds a small, cup-shaped nest that hangs from a fork in a tree branch. Lays three or four eggs, incubated by both parents for about 14 days.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened by IUCN criteria; relatively widespread and abundant. Some populations are threatened by habitat loss due to agriculture, mining, flood-control projects, and reservoir construction. In 1986, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed a subspecies, the least Bell's vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), on the U.S. Endangered Species List. The Fish and Wildlife Service regulates human activities in riparian habitat used by the least Bell's vireo in southern California and elsewhere in its range.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.

 
 
Western Bird Guide: bell's vireo


Vireo bellii 4½-5″ (11-13 cm). Small, grayish; nondescript. One or two light wing bars, pale yellowish-washed sides. Distinguished from Warbling Vireo by the wing bar(s) and whitish eye-ring. Flicks tail.

Voice: Sings as if through clenched teeth; husky phrases at short intervals: cheedle cheedle chee? cheedle cheedle chew!

Range: Cen. and sw. U.S., n. Mexico. Winters Mexico to Nicaragua.

Habitat: Willows, streamsides.


 
Wikipedia: Bell's Vireo
Bell's Vireo
Vireo_bellii1.jpg
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Vireonidae
Genus: Vireo
Species: V. bellii
Binomial name
Vireo bellii
Audubon, 1844

The Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii) is a small North American songbird. It is 4-3/4 to 5 inches (12-13 cm) in length, dull olive-gray above and whitish below. It has a faint white eye ring and faint wing bars.

The Bell's Vireo makes a well-camouflaged nest but when found the bird will stand its ground against intruders. Cowbirds use Bell's Vireo nests as their own nurseries.

This bird was named by Audubon for John Graham Bell, who accompanied him on his trip up the Missouri River in the 1840s.

The Least Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), an endangered subspecies in Southern California, has been an important factor to development projects. Considerable cost has been added to some construction projects, or projects have been blocked altogether, to protect Least Bell's Vireo habitat. The decline of the Least Bell's Vireo is mostly due to an increase in grassland, probably due to wildfires. The grassland is favorable to Cowbirds which lay their eggs in Bell's Vireo nests.

References

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Copyrights:

Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Western Bird Guide. Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds, by Roger Tory Peterson. Copyright © 1990 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bell's Vireo" Read more

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