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Dwarf Vireo | Vireo nelsoni
Dwergvireo | Vireo enano
The Dwarf Vireo is the smallest vireo of Mexico, an inconspicuous greyish bird of dry scrub in the south-west and centre of the country. It resembles a small Bell's Vireo and occurs only in Mexico.
Voice
The song is a fast, somewhat scratchy series of notes recalling that of Bell's Vireo.
Recording: Manuel Grosselet — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm. Upperparts greyish olive-green. Lores and eye-ring whitish, forming indistinct spectacles. Two pale wing bars, the lower one more obvious. Underparts dirty white with a yellowish wash on the flanks. Eye dark. Tail fairly long.
Confusion species
Bell's Vireo Vireo bellii, which occurs on the Pacific slope in winter, is slightly larger and usually has less distinct wing bars. Slaty Vireo Vireo brevipennis is slate-grey with green wing edges and a white eye. Hutton's Vireo Vireo huttoni is stockier with a thicker bill and lives mainly in oak and pine-oak forest.
Habitat
Dry to semi-arid scrub, thorn scrub, oak scrub and shrubby edges of dry forest and pine-oak forest, in hills and at middle elevations. Forages for insects in dense shrubs.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Only in Mexico: the south-west and centre of the country, from Jalisco and Michoacán through the State of México, Morelos and Guerrero to Puebla and Oaxaca.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Best found by song in dry scrub on mountain slopes; it often joins mixed flocks of small birds.
Conservation status
Not threatened. A local and little-known species, fairly common in suitable scrub.
Scientific name
Vireo nelsoni | Bond, 1936
Bond described the species in 1936 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Vireo was introduced in 1808 by Vieillot. Vireo was used by Latin authors for a small, green, migratory bird, probably the Eurasian golden oriole, though the European greenfinch has also been suggested. nelsoni honours the American naturalist Edward William Nelson (1855–1934), who described the species in 1898 as Vireo nanus, a name already in use. The specimen the first description was based on came from Queréndaro, Michoacán, Mexico.