Cooperative Living May 2018 - 12

I was
FeatheredFriends | Story and Artwork by Spike Knuth, Contributing Columnist
White-eyed Vireo
D
uring a spring walk in the
Amelia Wildlife Management
Area, I was drawn to the song
of a bird I couldn't identify.
It was mid-April and many trees
and shrubs were showing different
shades of green as their leaves burst
forth. White dogwood blossoms
had just begun to replace the
diminishing white blossoms of
the serviceberry (shadbush).
I kept moving toward the sound
and at first thought I was hearing a
catbird, yet there was something
different about it. The call, or song,
consisted of at least five to, maybe,
seven different notes with a
somewhat questioning-like note at
the end. Sometimes it ended with a
" chick " or " check " note. To me, it
sounded like " chick-ah-chipperdaay "
with the occasional " chick "
at the end.
Now my curiosity was whetted
and I searched more diligently for
the source of the call in a thick
tangle of greenbrier (smilax),
Virginia creeper, and other vines
and shrubs.
Suddenly, as if it was as curious
about me as I was about it, the bird
popped out of the thick foliage
uttering its song, as if to ask me,
" Who are you and what are you
looking at? " I didn't have my
binoculars, but did have a camera
with a 300-mm zoom lens. I tried
to get a quick focus on the bird for
a good look at it, and maybe to get
a photo.
I immediately noticed the bird's
white eye almost glaring at me.
Along with its basic olive-colored
back and light undersides, I realized
I was seeing my first white-eyed
10 | Cooperative Living | May 2018
drawn to the
song of a bird
I couldn't
identify.
White-eyed vireos, arriving in early April, have a pair of white wing bars and that conspicuous white eye.
vireo. To me it was a rare sighting.
After researching the bird's natural
history, however, I found it has always
been known and widely distributed in
the eastern half of the United States; in
the southeast particularly, although
maybe not in great numbers.
White-eyed vireos, arriving in
early April, tend to show up sooner
in spring compared to their more
common cousins, the red-eyed,
yellow-throated and warbling vireos.
Their colors are olive green above
with some gray on the back of the
head and upper back, and white
undersides washed with yellow.
They have a pair of white wing bars
and that conspicuous white eye.
In front of and around the eye is
a ring or spectacles of yellow. A bit
smaller than the other vireos, they
are about 4½ to 5½ inches long.
The white-eyed's favored habitats
include dense growths of shrubs
and vines or small trees such as
alder, willow, smilax, blackberry,
wild grape and Virginia creeper and
saplings of many kinds. Often it is
in areas along a stream or lakeshore,
in swampy terrain or low-growing
vegetation. While the bird is
somewhat secretive and seemingly
timid, it is also active and curious,
often sneaking up on a visitor to
its territory, quietly at first, then
coming out of hiding suddenly,
calling and scolding, especially if
it has a nest nearby.
Its song is a series of notes offered
over and over, which has been
described in a number of ways. One
description is that it sounds like
" chick-per-wee-oo-chick, " or " chip-awee-oo. "
Its song may include
imitations of robins, house wrens,
brown thrashers or the catbird, which
is what I had mistaken it for. It has a
number of other vocalizations.
After a courtship ritual, pairs are
formed and nest building commences
by both sexes, usually in early May.
The nest is built low, about 3 to 6 feet
above the ground and well hidden in
dense, low growth. It is normally
suspended under a forked branch.
The nest is a somewhat bulky and
ragged affair constructed of leaves,
plant stems, moss, wasp paper, spider
silk, plant fibers, fine grasses, old
moth cocoons, lichens, animal hair
and even paper scraps.
Three to five eggs are laid, white
with markings of dark brown, purple
and black at the larger end. Both
parent birds incubate the eggs,
which hatch in 12 to 16 days.
White-eyed vireos' nests are heavily
parasitized by cowbirds, so they
may be saddled with raising cowbird
young. Both parent birds also
participate in the feeding of the
young, and in southerly climes two
broods may be raised.
White-eyed vireos are mostly
insect eaters, feeding on beetles of
all kinds, stink bugs, scale insects,
flies, wasps and some bees. They feed
by scrambling through the thickets
searching diligently, sometimes
hanging upside down and sometimes
hovering like a flycatcher. They
also feed on various wild berries
such as blackberries, wax myrtle,
sumac, grapes and others.
Their autumn departure starts in
October. They move solitarily, in
pairs or they may flock with other
small birds, and winter along the
Gulf and Atlantic coasts, the Yucatan,
Honduras and Guatemala. 
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Cooperative Living May 2018

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