White-eyed Vireo

Appearance:

Length: 4.3-5.1 in
Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz
Wingspan: 6.7 in

Small songbird with a thick, straight, and slightly hooked bill. It has a rather compact body and a thick neck. This vireo wears yellow spectacles surrounding its white eye. It has yellow-washed sides, a gray head, a white chest and throat, and 2 white wing bars. Young birds have a dark eye that turns white in their first winter or spring.

Habitat:

Found in deciduous scrub, overgrown pastures, old fields, forested edges, second-growth forests, and streamside thickets. In Florida, also uses mangroves.

Behavior:

White-eyed Vireos are social birds. They move in flocks across Alabama during the fall, winter, and spring season stripping trees of their berries. They sit in fruiting trees swallowing berries whole, or pluck them in mid-air with a brief fluttering hover. They also course over water for insects, flying like tubby, slightly clumsy swallows.