BIRD SPECIES

Blue-headed Vireo

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Vireo solitarius

The Blue-headed Vireo is a Neotropical migrating songbird found in North and Central America.
It is a stocky small songbird with medium-length tail and fairly heavy, hooked bill and thick legs compared to warblers.

Both sexes measure about 4.7 - 5.9 inches in length, with 8.7 - 9.5 inches wingspan and weight around 13.2 - 17.2 grams.
They are characterized by their blue-gray head and bold yellow wing bars.
Males have blue-gray hood, contrasting with white spectacles, chin and throat.
They have bright olive back, dark wings that show yellow-tinged wing bars and tertial feathers.
The dark secondaries have greenish-yellow edges and the black tail has fine yellowish-green edges.
Upperparts are white, with yellow sides and flanks. Vent and undertail coverts are white.
Both sexes are similar with females slightly duller than males, having partly gray hood. Females maybe as large as or slightly larger than males.
Juveniles resemble adults, but duller and browner.

 CALL: Fast, repeated scolding and alarm calls vary in intensity and duration but are the most frequent (and distinctive) vocalizations heard from migrants and wintering birds. 

SONG: A simple, slow, monotonous tune that is sung only by the males and usually only during the breeding season.

Feeds mainly on insects such as bugs and beetles. They also feed on moth caterpillars, and fruit and berries in winter.

Lives in mixed woodlands such as riparian woodlands, pinyon-juniper woodlands, mountain canyons, and montane forests, mainly ponderosa pines.

Breeds in most southern Canada to Newfoundland, south along Atlantic coasts states, and southwards in Appalachians.

Winters in south-eastern United States to Central America.

The pair build a hanging cup nest with twigs, grass, small bits of bark, stems, and silk of spider webs and cocoons.
It is lined with grass and hair, rootlets and conifer needles.
The female lays 3 - 5 white eggs with black and brown markings. Incubation lasts about 12 - 14 days, shared by both sexes.

SOURCES:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com
https://en.wikipedia.org