Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City by Leslie Day

Author:Leslie Day
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2015-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

VIREOS

THERE ARE 50 SPECIES of vireo, all native to the new world: North and South America. They are small, with short, thick bills, slightly hooked at the tip, which they use to hawk insects in midair and to glean them from leaves. Birds of the woods, their plumage is typically dull brown, yellow, and green above and pale below. Eye stripes or white spectacles are common around their eyes. They feed on invertebrates and sometimes fruit.

In North America, there are 13 species of vireo: Bell’s, warbling, white-eyed, black-capped, gray, yellow-throated, plumbeous, Cassin’s, blue-headed, Hutton’s, Philadelphia, red-eyed, and black-whiskered. They typically forage for insects high in the treetops. One can usually hear them, but it is not easy to see them.

In New York City, the most common vireo is the red-eyed. It is quite a songster, singing continuously as it forages for insects high in the trees of city parks and backyards. Other vireos seen in the city are the warbling, white-eyed, blue-headed, and Philadelphia. These species can be seen in spring and fall in parks along the coast, such as Mount Loretto in Staten Island, Breezy Point in the Rockaways, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Floyd Bennett Field, Fort Tilden, and Jacob Riis Park, and in inland parks: Forest Park in Queens, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Central Park, Fort Tryon Park, Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan, and Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx.

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