[TN-Bird] Vireo ID help?
- From: Daniel Estabrooks <hyla514@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 07:31:03 -0700 (PDT)
Corner of Byrams Fork & Hickory Valley roads
Anderson County
7/23/13
I am completely befuddled by two vireos that I saw yesterday evening around
7:30pm. It's not often that I get a good extended look at a bird in Tennessee
and still have no idea what it is! I don't have a good camera, but hopefully my
verbal description will be detailed enough that someone with more knowledge
than I can ID it...
As I said, there were two birds foraging in some trees in my parents' front
yard. I watched them with the naked eye from the porch for about 5 minutes,
assuming that they were nothing noteworthy. (Without binoculars, I thought they
might be dull fall Pine Warblers.) The birds were clearly together, following
each other from tree to tree and occasionally squabbling over particularly
choice patches of foliage. Their behavior was very warbler-like, always on the
move, poking at leaves, constantly flicking some part of their body (I know
this sounds stupid, but I couldn't tell if they were flicking their wings or
tail, it was so fast), and occasionally hovering to pick food off the trees. I
assume they were catching insects, but one of them did manage to pluck an
entire fruit off a Bradford pear tree. (I looked away and didn't notice what he
did with it.)
After watching all this for a few minutes, I went in to get my binoculars, and
one of the birds flew away shortly thereafter. I spent the next 15 minutes
getting many good looks at the remaining bird, and the following is a detailed
description of its appearance:
The general appearance of the bird looked like a White-eyed Vireo, but there
were significant plumage differences, and the behavior was completely wrong (as
noted earlier).
The face and crown were gray. There were white spectacles around the eyes,
though not as bold and thick as on a Blue-headed Vireo. There was no hint of
bluish color on the face or any noticeable line of demarcation between the head
color and the rest of the bird. It had the typical big honkin' thick vireo bill
- too big and thick even for a Pine Warbler. (It was the typical size and shape
for a White-eyed.) The bill was distinctly pointed when viewed from directly
underneath. There was a yellow wash on the sides of the forehead, but it wasn't
as bright or as distinctly confined to the lores as a typical White-eyed. The
eyes were dark.
The belly was pale grayish-white with pale yellow on the flanks and extending
around through the undertail coverts. There were two white wing bars, with the
distal one much bolder and thicker than the proximal one. The secondaries had
distinct yellow edges apparently running the entire length of the feathers (or
at least the part that was visible), similar to the pattern on a White-eyed or
a Cape May Warbler.
The tail was fairly short - typical length for a White-eyed. The underside was
dark.
When the two birds fought with each other, they gave very typical-sounding
harsh scolding vireo calls. They foraged in a variety of plants, ranging in
size from large bushes to big mature broadleaf trees, but they stayed about
6-20 ft. above the ground regardless of where they were, and they were never
difficult to see.
In addition to the bill size/shape, the overall appearance of the bird just
looked like a vireo, not a warbler. It had the big head of a vireo, but other
than that, I don't know how to describe it other than to say it had vireo
"gestalt", not warbler.
As you can see, most of the description fits a young White-eyed Vireo that
hasn't developed its eye color yet. But the face was weird (white spectacles,
yellow forehead, etc.), and the fast flitty behavior was super odd for any
vireo, but especially for White-eyed, which I've never known to forage 20 feet
up in an oak tree in the middle of a lawn. (My parents do have some scrubby
habitat in their backyard that would be appropriate for a White-eyed, but
that's not where the birds were.)
So that's that. I'll be grateful for any insight!
Daniel Estabrooks
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