Warbling Vireo - Vireo gilvus

Warbling Vireo -- South Dakota Birds

Length: 5.25 inches	Wingspan: 8.75 inches	Seasonality: Summer
ID Keys: Gray overall, with darker upperparts and lighter underparts, sometimes with a wash of faint yellow. White eyebrow.

Warbling Vireo

Vireo gilvus

The Warbling Vireo is a very plain looking bird with a musical warbling song. They are often found high in the treetops, and may be known by song more than by appearance for many people. They can be found across much of North America. The eastern and western birds sing slightly different songs, leading some to believe they should be classified as separate species, but they are virtually identical in appearance.

Habitat: Uses open deciduous or mixed forest during the summer breeding season, especially along woodland edges and clearings. They can also be found in isolated groves of trees in otherwise largely unforested land, such as farmsteads and shelterbelts, riparian areas, and suburban settings. They winter in open woods in the tropics.

Diet: Primarily feeds on insects in all seasons. Will also eat spiders, snails, fruits, and berries.

Nesting: Late May through mid- July.

Breeding Map: Breeding Bird Survey map

Song: A fast musical warbling. Click to hear the Warbling Vireo song.

Migrations: Summers throughout most of the continental United States except for portions of the South, also in much of western Canada. Winters in Mexico and points south.

Similar Species: Philadelphia Vireo, Tennessee Warbler

Status: Numbers are probably much greater than before European settlement of North America, due to the vast increases in "edge" habitat created through fragmentation and clearing of forest land.