The vireos make up a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s found in the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
(Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
. "Vireo" is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female
golden oriole
The Eurasian golden oriole (''Oriolus oriolus'') also called the common golden oriole, is the only member of the Old World oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and P ...
, possibly the
European greenfinch
The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (''Chloris chloris'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some north ...
.
They are typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color, the smaller species resembling
wood warblers apart from their heavier bills. They range in size from the
Chocó vireo
The Chocó vireo (''Vireo masteri'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae that was discovered by Paul Salaman in 1991 and described in 1996. It is found in western Colombia and has recently been found in north-west Ecuador. Its natural ...
,
dwarf vireo
The dwarf vireo (''Vireo nelsoni'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae. It is endemic to Mexico.
Its natural habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present ...
and
lesser greenlet, all at around 10cm and 8g, to the
peppershrike
The peppershrikes are two species of passerine bird found in tropical Central and South America. They form the genus ''Cyclarhis'', part of the vireo family.
These are heavyset birds with a hooked shrike-like bill. Although sluggish and ver ...
s and
shrike-vireo
''Vireolanius'' is a genus of bird in the family Vireonidae
The vireos make up a family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World (Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and Southeast ...
s at up to 17cm and 40g.
[Forshaw, Joseph & Parkes, Kenneth C. 1991. ''Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds,'' p. 209. Merehurst Press, London. ]
Distribution and habitat
Most species are found in
Middle America and northern
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
. Thirteen species of true vireos occur farther north, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = "Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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, es ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
; of these all but
Hutton's vireo
Hutton's vireo (''Vireo huttoni'') is a small songbird. It is approximately 5 inches (12–13 cm) in length, dull olive-gray above and below. It has a faint white eye ring and faint white wing bars. It closely resembles a ruby-crowned king ...
are
migratory. Members of the family seldom fly long distances except in migration.
[Salaman, Paul & Barlow, Jon C. 2003. Vireos. Pp. 478–479 in; Perrins, C. ed. ''The Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds''. Firefly Books, Oxford. ] They inhabit forest environments, with different species preferring forest canopies, undergrowth, or
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
swamps.
[
A few species in the genus ''Vireo'' have appeared on the eastern side of the Atlantic as vagrants to the Western Palearctic.]
Behaviour
The resident species occur in pairs or family groups that maintain territories all year (except Hutton's vireo, which joins mixed feeding flocks). Most of the migrants defend winter territories against conspecifics. The exceptions are the complex comprising the red-eyed vireo
The red-eyed vireo (''Vireo olivaceus'') is a small American songbird. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN. ...
, the yellow-green vireo, the black-whiskered vireo
The black-whiskered vireo (''Vireo altiloquus'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in southern Florida, United States, USA, and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela. It is a bird migration, partial migrant, wi ...
, and the Yucatan vireo
The Yucatan vireo (''Vireo magister'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae.
Closely related to the red-eyed vireo, its plumage a duller overall. It measures . It has a stout, hooked bill that is gray, paler at the base. A broad white ...
, which winter in small wandering flocks.
Voice
Males of most species are persistent singers. Songs are usually rather simple, monotonous in some species of the Caribbean littoral and islands, and most elaborate and pleasant to human ears in the Chocó vireo
The Chocó vireo (''Vireo masteri'') is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae that was discovered by Paul Salaman in 1991 and described in 1996. It is found in western Colombia and has recently been found in north-west Ecuador. Its natural ...
and the peppershrikes.
Breeding
The nests of many tropical species are unknown. Of those that are known, all build a cup-shaped nest that hangs from branches. The female does most of the incubation, spelled by the male except in the red-eyed vireo complex.
Feeding
All members of the family eat some fruit but mostly insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s and other arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...
s. They take prey from leaves and branches; true vireos also flycatch, and the gray vireo takes 5 percent of its prey from the ground.
Systematics
The six genera of these birds make up the family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Vireonidae, and are believed to be related to the crow-like birds in family Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Cu ...
and the shrikes in family Laniidae. Recent biochemical studies have identified two babbler genera (''Pteruthius
The shrike-babblers are a group of small birds in the genus ''Pteruthius''. They are native to the Indomalayan realm, and were traditionally placed in the family Timaliidae before molecular phylogenetic studies in 2007 found that they were best ...
'' and '' Erpornis'') which may be Old World members of this family.[Reddy, Sushma & Cracraft, Joel (2007): Old World Shrike-babblers (''Pteruthius'') belong with New World Vireos (Vireonidae). ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 44 (3): 1352–1357. ] Observers have commented on the vireo-like behaviour of the ''Pteruthius'' shrike-babblers, but apparently no-one suspected the biogeographically unlikely possibility of vireo relatives in Asia.
The family can be conveniently though perhaps inaccurately categorised by genus as the true vireos, the greenlets, the shrike-vireos and the peppershrikes. Preliminary genetic studies by Johnson et al. revealed large interspecific genetic distances between clades within ''Vireo'' and '' Hylophilus'' of a similar magnitude to differences between ''Cyclarhis
The peppershrikes are two species of passerine bird found in tropical Central and South America. They form the genus ''Cyclarhis'', part of the vireo family.
These are heavyset birds with a hooked shrike-like bill. Although sluggish and ver ...
'' and ''Vireolanius
''Vireolanius'' is a genus of bird in the family Vireonidae
The vireos make up a family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World (Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and Southeast ...
''. Furthermore, some vireo and greenlet species may be closer to the peppershrikes than to their respective congeners. A more comprehensive study may reveal this family to be considerably undersplit at both the generic and species level.
Species in taxonomic order
References
External links
Vireos (Vireonidae)
information, including 33 species with videos and 40 with photographs at the Internet Bird Collection
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q748220
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