Philadelphia Vireo
Vireo philadelphicus
Silhouette: Caleb Gordon · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyVireonidae (Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis)
- GenusVireo (Vireos)
- SpeciesVireo philadelphicus (Philadelphia Vireo)
About the Philadelphia Vireo
The Philadelphia vireo (Vireo philadelphicus) is a small North American songbird in the vireo family (Vireonidae). "Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole, possibly the European greenfinch. The specific philadelphicus is for the city of Philadelphia.
Adults are mainly olive-brown on the upperparts with yellow underparts; they have dark eyes and a grey crown. They have no wing bars and no eye ring. There is a dark line through the eyes and a white stripe just over them. They have thick blue-grey legs and a stout bill. The Philadelphia vireo is similar in appearance to the warbling vireo, but can be reliably distinguished by having much yellower underparts, and dark lores.
Their breeding habitat is the edges of deciduous and mixed woods across Canada. They make a basket-shaped cup nest in a fork of a tree branch, usually placed relatively high. The female lays 3 to 5 lightly spotted white eggs. Incubation, by both parents, lasts up to 14 days.
These birds migrate to Mexico and Central America. This vireo is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. They are unlikely to visit Philadelphia, except in migration... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Philadelphia Vireo in Big Cypress National Preserve
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Big Cypress National Preserve
White-eyed Vireo
Vireo griseus
Blue-headed Vireo
Vireo solitarius
Red-eyed Vireo
Vireo olivaceus
Yellow-throated Vireo
Vireo flavifrons
Black-whiskered Vireo
Vireo altiloquus
American Crow
Corvus brachyrhynchos
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Polioptila caerulea
Palm Warbler
Setophaga palmarum
Northern Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos
Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
Common Grackle
Quiscalus quiscula
Gray Catbird
Dumetella carolinensis
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.