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 →
Closest Relatives at Coiba National Park
Yellow-green Vireo
Vireo flavoviridis
Red-eyed Vireo
Vireo olivaceus
Yellow-throated Vireo
Vireo flavifrons
Scrub Greenlet
Hylophilus flavipes
Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Cyclarhis gujanensis
Golden-fronted Greenlet
Hylophilus aurantiifrons
Lesser Greenlet
Hylophilus decurtatus
Lance-tailed Manakin
Chiroxiphia lanceolata
Bananaquit
Coereba flaveola
Barred Antshrike
Thamnophilus doliatus
Crimson-backed Tanager
Ramphocelus dimidiatus
Southern House Wren
Troglodytes musculus
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.