Black whiskered Vireo (Vireo altiloquus)

[order] Passeriformes | [family] Vireonidae | [latin] Vireo altiloquus | [UK] Black-whiskered Vireo | [FR] Vireo a moustaches | [DE] Bartvireo | [ES] Vireo de Bigotes Negros | [IT] Vireo dai mustacchi neri | [NL] Baardvireo

The adult Black-whiskered Vireo has dull olive-green upperparts and white underparts, with yellowish on the flanks and under the tail. It has red eyes and a grey-brown crown with faint dusky edges. There is a dark line through the eyes and a white eyebrow stripe. There is a distinctive black line (the ?whisker?) on the neck sides. Juvenile birds are similar, but have brown-red eyes.

This species breeds in southern Florida, USA, and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela.

The breeding habitat is open deciduous wooded areas and cultivation, and in Florida also mangroves.

Clutch size is Two to three white eggs with fine brown, purple, and black specks. The nest is made of twigs, grass, plant fibers, spider webs, cocoons, and lichens. It is lined with grass, pine needles, and hair, and built from 1 to 7 meter above the ground on a thin branch of a shrub or tree. Incubation, solely by the feamle, ranges from 12 to 14 days. This bird suffers from nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird in its US range, and Shiny Cowbird further south.

The Black-whiskered Vireo gleans insects from tree foliage, sometimes hovering while foraging. It will also eat small quantities of berries

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 270,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 780,000 individuals (Rich et al. 2003). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Nonbreeding transient and visitor south to ne. Peru, Amaz. Brazil, and Guianas; Trinidad. Breeds in Florida, on West Indies, and on various islands off the coast of Venezuela, including Netherlands Antilles, withdrawing southward from more n. areas.