Yellow-throated Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo populations can be susceptible to cyclical fluctuations in the abundance of moths and butterflies. Lepidoptera, including adults, larvae, and eggs, make up as much as 40 percent of the diet.

Yellow-throated Vireos are found in summer throughout eastern North America from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Canada. They are typically found in open woods without dense undergrowth, and with partially open canopies. Coniferous forests are usually avoided. Yellow-throated Vireos can be found in streamside or roadside woodland edges, orchards, and shade trees of suburbia. They forage in a deliberate manner, feeding almost entirely on insects, including in addition to Lepidoptera, scale insects, bugs, beetles, aphids, mosquitoes and midges. In the fall they also consume small amounts of fruit, such as sassafras berries and grapes.
Yellow-throated Vireo Range Map

Males sing throughout the breeding season and into September. The song, typical of many vireo songs, consists of short two- or three-note phrases rising and falling in inflection, and separated by long pauses: "de-ar-ie, come here," and a distinctive phrase that sounds like "three-eight." The Yellow-throated Vireo’s songs tend to be slower and lower-pitched those of the Red-eyed Vireo and reedier-sounding than the song of the closely related Blue-headed Vireo, although occasionally individual songs of the Blue-headed and Yellow-throated vireos are nearly indistinguishable.

The male apparently selects the nest sites and may construct the rudimentary beginnings of several nests. He courts his mate by crouching with his body held horizontally at potential nest sites. Once the pair forms, the initial territory contracts and activity is centered on nest construction, which begins immediately. The female does most of the work of completing the deep cup-shaped nest, and about a week later the first of three to five spotted eggs is laid. Yellow-throated Vireo nests are suspended from forked horizontal twigs with plant fibers reinforced with spider webs. Spider webs are also used to secure camouflaging mosses and lichens to the outside. The nest is placed in the canopy of the tree, typically more than 20 feet high. Once the clutch is laid, the parents share in the incubation of the eggs, and are reluctant to leave the nest when approached. Males sometimes sing while on the nest. Upon fledging the brood is divided between the parents, who continue to tend the young until late summer.

Winters are spent from southern Florida and southern Texas through Mexico and Central America to northern South America, and in the Caribbean. Yellow-throated Vireos tend to be solitary and territorial and sometimes join in mixed-species flocks. In winter they inhabit second-growth forests, mangroves, or shaded coffee plantations. During migration they may use more open areas and scrublands.

Upperparts of both sexes are olive gray to olive brown. The throat, breast, and undertail coverts are bright yellow in males, and paler in females. The belly is whitish. The exact extent of the yellow and white of the underparts varies geographically. Males have a broad black mask across the forehead, enveloping the eyes. The band of whitish gray above the masks varies geographically and is yellowish in some races. Females lack the mask and have a faint buffy eye ring.

Description: The large-headed and short-tailed Yellow-throated Vireos are the brightest of the North American vireos. They are olive-green above with gray rumps and a yellow wash over the head. The eyes are surrounded by bright yellow eye rings that extend to the bill as "spectacles." There are two prominent white wingbars on the gray wings. The throat and upper breast are bright yellow, and the belly is white. Females are slightly paler than males.

Yellow-throated Vireos are the only spectacled vireos with bright yellow on the throat and breast only. They can, however, be confused with Pine Warblers, which have faintly streaked sides and white tail spots and usually inhabit conifers. The thicket-loving Yellow-breasted Chat is also somewhat similar, but lacks wingbars and has a much longer tail.


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