Philadelphia Vireo

Olive-green above, with yellow undersides, a white line above the eye and a dark line in front of the eye are key field marks. It has the thick bill of other vireos, but lacks the white wing bars and "spectacles" of the larger Yellow-throated Vireo. Length: 11-12 cm.; weight: 11-13 g. Although it was first collected by an ornithologist near Philadelphia, it does not breed there and in fact is a rare migrant in the eastern USA. It breeds in young, deciduous woodlands of southern Canada and northern New York State and New England where it feeds mostly on caterpillars. Normally winters in second-growth forests and woodland edges from southern Guatemala to Panama. Rare woodlands visitor in Puerto Rico, with one confirmed record at the Christmas Bird Count at Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, 19 Dec. 1999.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; VIREONIDAE

References

Bent, A.C. 1950. Life histories of North American wagtails, shrikes, vireos, and their allies. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 197. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1965).

Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/ Fireside, NY.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Moskoff, W., and S. K. Robinson. 1996. Philadelphia Vireo (Vireo philadelphicus). No. 214 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, PA, and Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, D.C.

Philadelphia Vireo, Spanish text

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