Yellow-throated Vireo

Vireo flavifronsOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Vireos (Vireonidae)

Codes: Common Name: YTVI Scientific Name: VIRFLF ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179009

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Overview

Yellow-throated Vireo: Large vireo, olive-gray upperparts, gray rump. Throat and breast are bright yellow, belly is white. Eyes are dark. Spectacles are yellow. Wings are dark with two white bars. Legs and feet are black. It is the most colorful member of its family in North America.

Range and Habitat

Yellow-throated Vireo: Breeds from Manitoba, Minnesota, Ontario, and central New England south to Gulf Coast states. Spends winters in tropics, with a few in southern Florida. Inhabits live oak hammocks, mature pine forests, or mixed turkey oak and pine woodlands. Also occurs in cypress swamps or mixed forests along rivers. Sometimes found in residential areas with mature trees.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"three-EIGHT, three-EIGHT, three-EIGHT", "cheh, cheh, cheh"

Interesting Facts

The Yellow-throated Vireo was first described in 1808 by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, a French ornithologist.

It requires large blocks of forest to breed successfully. Numbers decrease sharply in forests smaller than 250 acres in the northeastern United States.

Their numbers have decreased in recent years because of the spraying of trees with toxic chemicals.

A group of vireos are collectively known as a "call" of vireos.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Yury Lisyak

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Yellow-throated Vireo

● Song: "three-EIGHT, three-EIGHT, three-EIGHT", "cheh, cheh, cheh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Yellow-throated Vireo: Diet is composed of insects, mostly caterpillars; also eats spiders and fruits.

● Breeding & nesting: Yellow-throated Vireo: Three to five white to light pink eggs with brown spots at larger end are laid in a cup-shaped nest made of grass and lichens, and suspended from a tree limb 3 to 60 feet above the ground. Both parents incubate eggs for 14 days.

● Similar species: Yellow-throated Vireo: Pine Warbler is smaller, lacks spectacles, has thinner bill, faintly streaked sides, and white tail spots.

Flight Pattern

Fluttering direct flight with rapid wing beats.

Yellow-throated Vireo Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Yellow-throated Vireo: Breeds from Manitoba, Minnesota, Ontario, and central New England south to Gulf Coast states. Spends winters in tropics, with a few in southern Florida. Inhabits live oak hammocks, mature pine forests, or mixed turkey oak and pine woodlands. Also occurs in cypress swamps or mixed forests along rivers. Sometimes found in residential areas with mature trees.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common in range

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.6 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America