White-eyed Vireo Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Small songbird with a thick, straight, and slightly hooked bill. It has a rather compact body and a thick neck.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, smaller than a Tufted Titmouse.

  sparrow-sized or smaller

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 4.3-5.1 in (11-13 cm)
    • Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (10-14 g)
    • Wingspan: 6.7 in (17 cm)

  © Craig Brelsford / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  This vireo wears yellow spectacles surrounding its white eye. It has yellow-washed sides, a gray head, a white chest and throat, and 2 white wingbars. Young birds have a dark eye that turns white in their first winter or spring.

• Behavior

  Forages deliberately with short hops or flights, pausing to look for insects by tilting its head and peering. It tends to stay hidden in the understory, where it gleans insects by picking, hovering, reaching, lunging, hanging, or leaping.
• Habitat

  Found in deciduous scrub, overgrown pastures, old fields, forested edges, second-growth forests, and streamside thickets. In Florida, also uses mangroves.