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education: birds of georgia Bell's Vireo, Vireo bellii
Status: Accidental. Two accepted records: in Muscogee near Columbus 26-29 Apr 2000 with photos (Chambers, Walt) (O 65:67, GCRC 2000-06); and in Cobb at KMT 5 Oct 2003 (sight record, Beaton, Giff) (Beaton, et al 2003). Widespread neotropical migrant breeder in central and sw United States and n. MX. Breeds from CA (Least Bell's Vireo, subspecies, endangered) east to e TX, nw LA, AR, sw TN, sw KY, s IN and w OH. Habitat: Breeds in dense successional growth in the Midwest and streamside willow thickets in Southwest and CA. The first Georgia record ( Muscogee ) was found singing in a willow thicket where it stayed for the entire period. The second record ( Cobb ) was found in low dense scrub. Diet: Mostly insects, especially caterpillars, wasps, bees and weevils (Kaufman 1996). Identification: Sexually monomorphic, small vireo with short rounded wings and long-tailed appearance. Plumage color is variable with two distinct plumages. The western form has dull grayish brown upper parts and very light gray chest, breast, sides, flanks and abdomen. The eastern form has olive green to brownish green upper parts and pale yellow underparts with the yellow being continuous from the throat through the undertail coverts. Both forms show a white eye-ring that is continuous with a dull white supraloral streak. Western birds have two distinct whitish wing bars with the lower bar being the more prominent. The wing bars in eastern form birds are pale whitish yellow (Brown 1993). Conservation: Apparently stable in parts of the Southwest (AZ, NM and TX), but declining in the Midwest mainly due to cowbird parasitism and habitat destruction. Overgrazing suppresses shrub growth and reduces available nest sites and species density (by 50% in OK) (Overmire 1963. In CA, the subspecies, Least Bell's Vireo has been given protection under the Endangered Species Act as endangered due to extensive destruction of its streamside willow habitat. Recovery efforts include aggressive control of cowbirds and revegetation of riparian areas. One example of conservation that has aided the species is the work of The Nature Conservancy on the Mimbres River in NM, which has preserved high quality riparian habitat used for nesting. References: Brown, B.T. 1993. Bell's Vireo. In The Birds of North America No. 35 (A.Poole, P.Stettenham, and F. Gill, Eds.), Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornitholgists' Union. |
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