This morning while having coffee on my back porch waiting and watching for the first Rose-breasted Grosbeak to appear at my feeders, I heard a bird call that I quickly identified as a Red-eyed Vireo. Much to my wife’s delight I was wrong. She had opened up the Merlin app to use the Sound ID feature and it identified the bird as a Yellow-throated Vireo. The songs of the two vireos are similar but different enough, too, that I should not have gotten it wrong. Identifying calls and songs is the most challenging part of birding.
Upon locating where the sound was coming from and using my binoculars it was indeed a Yellow-throated Vireo. I blamed my incorrect song ID on the nearly 50 male American Goldfinches that were in full chatter mode descending on all my feeders.
The Yellow-throated Vireo (Y-TV) is a spring migrant arriving from Central and South America. Practically the entire eastern half of the U.S. is in their breeding range. One could easily miss this bird if there is a strong presence of Goldfinches around, although you won’t see them at a feeder. Y-TV’s are insect eaters and will be seen in deciduous forest areas where they tend to nest, hopping slowly from branch to branch looking for prey.
Males will find potential nesting areas and even begin placing some nest material in a few locations waiting on the arrival of a female. She will choose one of the locations and give approval. The male will begin the actual nest building only to hand over the duties to the female after one day. The nest material is comprised of bark strips, dry grasses, rootlets, pine needles, and perhaps hair, held together with spider web or some other insect silk.
Y-TV’s are mostly solitary and shortly after chicks leave the nest the pair will separate.
Just a reminder! If you are interested in placing a special order with us for our Campania cast stone concrete pre-order sale you have through the 18th to place an order. For more information read our Campania pre-order sale blog post from last week. Thank you!