A medium vireo with distinctive "black whiskers" on face.
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
The black-whiskered vireo is a small passerine bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. It is found in Florida, the Bahamas, many Caribbean islands, and northern and Amazonian South America.
Source: Wikipedia — Black-whiskered vireo Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Olive-green vireo with a gray crown, white eyebrow, dark eye line, and a thin black 'whisker' stripe down the side of the throat.
Similar species. Red-eyed Vireo is nearly identical but lacks the black malar 'whisker'; the whisker stripe and mangrove habitat point to Black-whiskered.
Voice. A repeated, deliberate, two- or three-noted phrase 'whip-Tom-Kelly', huskier than Red-eyed Vireo.
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Caterpillars and other insects, occasional berries.
Behavior. A vireo of Florida and Caribbean coastal mangroves; forages deliberately in the canopy and sings persistently through the heat of the day.
§ Range
Florida, Caribbean
§ Habitat
Mangroves, coastal hammocks
§ Threats
Mangrove loss.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the black-whiskered vireo is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Support coastal habitat conservation.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — Black-whiskered vireo
- www.allaboutbirds.org — authoritative profile of Vireo altiloquus
- IUCN Red List — search for Vireo altiloquus
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Vireo altiloquus
§ Sources cited
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — All About Birds
- National Audubon Society
- iNaturalist
- IUCN Red List
