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 Bell's
VireoIncubating Bell's Vireos, like other vireos, are so fearless around their well-camouflaged nests that an observer may photograph them from a few feet away. The strong, somewhat curved beak, with a slight hook at the end, like a miniature of a shrike's beak, reminds us that these birds, however gentle they seem, are determined predators. Although often victimized by cowbirds, the Bell's Vireo raises relatively few of the brood parasites, simply abandoning a nest when a cowbird's egg is laid in it. The Least Bell's Vireo, a subspecies of Bell's Vireo, is on the U.S. Endangered Species List. It is classified as endangered in California. This little vireo lives in dense, streamside willow thickets from southern California into Baja California. The alteration of its habitat, caused mainly by water diversion practices, was a major factor in this vireo's decline. The stresses of habitat loss made the bird vulnerable to other factors. One of these is nest parasitism by cowbirds, which lay their eggs in the vireos' nests. The cowbird young crowd and starve out their hosts smaller offspring. There are thought to be about 300 breeding pairs of Least Bell's Vireos surviving. The Bell's Vireo primarily eats insects and spiders, gleaned from leaves and branches, and also eats a few berries. It builds a small, basketlike cup nest attached to a forked branch of mesquite, hackberry, catclaw, oak, willow, ash, cottonwood or low shrub, usually near water and seldom more than 5 feet above the ground. The Bell's Vireo breeds from southern California, Colorado, Dakotas and Indiana southward and winters in the tropics. It prefers dense bottomland thickets, willow scrub and mesquite. Bell's Vireo Range Map Visit
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