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Philadelphia Vireo | Vireo philadelphicus
Philadelphiavireo | Vireo de Filadelfia
The Philadelphia Vireo is a small, compact vireo with a yellowish throat and breast. It breeds in North America and winters in the guide area, mainly in Costa Rica and Panama, where it searches the canopy and forest edges for insects, often in mixed flocks.
Voice
Usually silent in its winter quarters; the call is a nasal, scolding sound. The song resembles that of Red-eyed Vireo but is higher and slower.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
12–13 cm. Upperparts greyish green, crown greyer. Whitish supercilium and a dark eye-stripe that reaches the bill. Underparts pale yellow, strongest on the throat and breast. No wing bars. Bill short.
Confusion species
Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus is greyer, has at most some yellow on the flanks and lacks the dark lores. Brown-capped Vireo Vireo leucophrys has a brown crown and is a resident of the mountains. Tennessee Warbler Leiothlypis peregrina has a thinner, pointed bill and white undertail coverts.
Habitat
In winter at forest edges, in secondary forest, semi-open country with trees, shade coffee and gardens, from the lowlands into the mountains. It searches for insects among the foliage in the canopy, often with warblers and other vireos.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Breeds in Canada and the north-eastern United States. In the guide area a winter visitor from southern Mexico to Panama, most numerous in Costa Rica and Panama; farther north mainly a passage migrant. Outside the guide area it also winters in north-western Colombia.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In winter best looked for in mixed flocks at forest edges and in gardens in Costa Rica and Panama; note the yellow throat and the dark lores.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Fairly common in winter in Costa Rica and Panama, scarcer farther north.
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. 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. philadelphicus refers to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the species was discovered in 1842. The specimen the first description was based on came from near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.