Alternate name: Solitary Vireo

Family: Vireonidae, Vireos view all from this family

Description 5-6" (13-15 cm). Blue-gray crown, nape, and face; olive-green back; white throat and underparts; 2 broad white wing-bars and large white "spectacles;" yellow flanks and sides. Females and immatures grayer on head.

Habitat Coniferous and mixed forests.

Nesting 3-5 white eggs, lightly spotted with brown, in a pendant cup of bark strips and down, placed in a forked twig of a small forest tree.

Range Breeds from northeastern British Columbia across central interior Canada to Newfoundland and south through Great Lakes region, southern New England, and in Appalachians to North Carolina. Winters from Carolinas to Texas.

Voice Song a rather slow series of sweet, slurred phrases like that of Red-eyed Vireo, but slower and more musical. Call a husky chatter.

Discussion This species, the Plumbeous Vireo, and Cassin's Vireo were formerly considered a single species known as the Solitary Vireo. The Blue-headed Vireo is handsome and distinctively patterned. It is known to most people as a fairly common migrant, usually arriving somewhat earlier in the spring than other vireos. It and the White-eyed Vireo are the only two eastern vireos that do not completely leave the United States in winter. Like other vireos it moves slowly and deliberately through the trees, peering with head cocked to one side in search of insects.