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Philadelphia Vireo | Vireo philadelphicus
Philadelphiavireo | Vireo de Filadelfia | Juruviara-de-filadélfia
The Philadelphia Vireo is a small North American vireo that winters in Central America. The guide area lies at the southern edge of its winter range: in Colombia it is a scarce winter visitor, in Ecuador an exceptional one. It feeds in the foliage of forest edges and gardens.
Voice
Usually silent in winter quarters; sometimes a nasal, scolding note. The song on the breeding grounds resembles that of Red-eyed Vireo, but is higher and slower.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13 cm, with a short, dark bill and a rounded head. The crown is grey, with a white supercilium and a dark eye-line that continues through the lores. The back, wings and tail are greyish olive, without wing bars. The throat and centre of the breast are pale yellow, and the belly is whiter. The sexes are alike; autumn birds are often yellower.
Confusion species
Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus is greyer and less yellow, with pale lores and a fainter eye-line. Brown-capped Vireo Vireo leucophrys has a brown cap and lives year-round in montane forest. Tennessee Warbler Leiothlypis peregrina has a thinner, pointed bill, a greener back and white undertail coverts, and is far more numerous in the same areas.
Habitat
Forest edges, secondary forest, shade coffee, gardens and parks with trees, from the lowlands up to about 2000 m. It searches the foliage for insects, often in mixed flocks. It breeds in Canada and the northern United States.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: scarce winter visitor, mainly on San Andrés and Providencia, in the Andes and on the Pacific lowlands. Ecuador: very few records, including in Quito. Absent from Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area it breeds in North America and winters mainly from Guatemala to Panama.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Between October and April in Colombia, check mixed flocks in gardens and forest edges for a vireo with a yellow throat and dark loral stripe; San Andrés offers the best chances.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The global population is stable to increasing.
Scientific name
Vireo philadelphicus | (Cassin, 1851)
Cassin described the species in 1851 as Vireosylvia philadelphica; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Vireo was introduced in 1808 by Vieillot. The genus name is Latin vireo, a green migratory bird, perhaps the female golden oriole or the greenfinch; related to virere, 'to be green'. The species name refers to Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), not necessarily the type locality. The specimen the first description was based on came from near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.