A small vireo with yellow throat.
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
The Philadelphia vireo is a small North American songbird in the vireo family (Vireonidae). "Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole, possibly the European greenfinch. The specific philadelphicus is for the city of Philadelphia.
Source: Wikipedia — Philadelphia vireo Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Olive above with a gray crown, dark eye line, white eyebrow, and a distinctive yellow wash strongest on the throat and center of the breast. No wing bars.
Similar species. Warbling Vireo is whiter below with a paler face; Tennessee Warbler is slimmer with a thinner bill. The yellow-centered underparts mark Philadelphia.
Voice. A song like a slow Red-eyed Vireo — deliberate, slurred phrases, but higher and slower.
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Caterpillars and other insects, occasional berries.
Behavior. A canopy vireo of northern second-growth woods; forages deliberately like other vireos and is easily confused with the much commoner Warbling Vireo.
§ Range
Boreal Canada in summer
§ Habitat
Mixed forests
§ Threats
Boreal forest loss.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the philadelphia vireo is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Support boreal conservation.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — Philadelphia vireo
- www.allaboutbirds.org — authoritative profile of Vireo philadelphicus
- IUCN Red List — search for Vireo philadelphicus
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Vireo philadelphicus
§ Sources cited
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — All About Birds
- National Audubon Society
- iNaturalist
- IUCN Red List
