Hi Daniel, You're describing a very young White-eyed Vireo REALLY well. Attached (hopefully) are 2 images of young White-eyed Vireos. This match your bird? Best, Stefan Stefan Woltmann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Biology Austin Peay State University Clarksville, TN 37044 woltmanns@xxxxxxxx ________________________________ From: Daniel Estabrooks <hyla514@xxxxxxxxx> To: TN Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 9:31 AM Subject: [TN-Bird] Vireo ID help? 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
Attachment:
WEVI HY U 06 22-Jun-08 383.JPG
Description: JPEG image
Attachment:
WEVI HY U 06 27-May-06 083.jpg
Description: JPEG image