The black-whiskered vireo (''Vireo altiloquus'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in southern Florida,

USA 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela. It is a partial migrant, with northern birds wintering from the Greater Antilles to northern South America. This species has occurred as a rare vagrant to

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Habitat

The breeding habitat is open deciduous wooded areas and cultivation, and in Florida also mangroves. The black-whiskered vireo builds a cup nest in a fork of a tree branch, and lays 2-3 white eggs.

Description

This vireo is 14–15 cm in length, has a 25 cm wingspan and weighs 17–19 g. It has thick blue-grey legs and a stout bill. The adult black-whiskered vireo has dull olive-green upperparts and white underparts, with yellowish on the flanks and under the tail. It has red eyes and a grey-brown crown with faint dusky edges. There is a dark line through the eyes and a white eyebrow stripe. There is a distinctive black line (the "whisker") on the neck sides. Juvenile birds are similar, but have brown-red eyes. This species is similar to

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. ...

, but is duller and browner above, and is best distinguished by the black whisker mark. The song is a three-syllable ''whip, Tom Kelly'', more abrupt than that of red-eyed vireo. The Florida race ''V. a. barbatulus'' is shorter-billed by 15% than the northern

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

subspecies ''V. a. bonairensis''. The latter form has occurred in the US as a vagrant to Florida and Louisiana.

Diet and behavior

The black-whiskered vireo

gleans Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

insects from tree foliage, sometimes hovering while foraging. It will also eat small quantities of berries This bird suffers from nest

parasitism Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

by the brown-headed cowbird in its US range, and shiny cowbird further south.

References

* * * ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica'' by Stiles and Skutch

External links

Black-whiskered Vireo Bird Sound
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2667746

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 ...

Native birds of the Eastern United States Birds of the Caribbean Birds of the Dominican Republic