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Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons)

Photo credit: Peter G. May

Length: 6 in.
Habitat: Tall deciduous trees at the edge of forests, along streams, roadsides, orchards, parks, and estates.
Range: Minnesota, Ontario, and southern New England south to the Gulf states. Winters from southern Mexico to northern South America.

This handsome vireo is found mainly in open groves of tall hardwood trees. More colorful than most vireos, the Yellow-throated vireo is no easier to see, usually remaining out of sight in the foliage. This vireo prefers oaks and maples along streams, lakes and roadsides. It will summer in tall trees or orchards in towns.

The Yellow-throated vireo feeds mostly on insects, and some berries, especially in the fall. In summer, over one-third of its diet may be caterpillars, moths, and butterflies; also eats tree bugs, scale insects, aphids, leafhoppers, beetls, sawflies, tree crickets, dragonflies, cicades, and others.

This vireo nests 20-40 feet above the ground. Both sexes help build open thick-walled cup nest and feed nestlings. The parents divide the fledglings, each adult caring for part of the brood.

Conservation Status This vireo is fairly common. However, its numbers have decreased in recent years because of the spraying of trees with toxic chemicals.