| Scientific Name |  Click photo to enlarge. Photo by Terry Sohl. |
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| Vireo flavifrons Vieillot - ATBI Database: Specimen Records | |||||
| Common Name | |||||
| Yellow-throated Vireo | |||||
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | |
| Animalia | Chordata | Aves | Passeriformes | Tyrannidae | |
| Animals | Chordates | Birds | Perching Birds | Flycatchers | |
This bird can be hard to spot as it prefers to remain out of sight among the leaves in the tall canopy. The male arrives on the breeding grounds first in the spring, and will start three or four nests that he uses as offerings to prospective mates. He will sing throughout the day and, unlike most other birds, throughout most of the summer.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
Length: 12.7 – 13.9 cm
Physical characteristics: This vireo does have a yellow throat and breast, along with yellow spectacles. The belly is white. The head and back are olive; the rump is gray, and the wings and tail are dark. There are two distinct white wing bars. Sexes are similar.
Voice: Song is a slow series of mostly 3, but sometimes 2, note phrases separated by long pauses. Similar to songs of the Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo, but more hoarse and slow. Song recorded by John R. Sauer.
Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter: Yellow-throated Vireo
DISTRIBUTION
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Breeding: The range of the Yellow-throated Vireo is mostly in the eastern half of the continental United States, from Minnesota south to southeastern Texas and east to the Atlantic coast. This species is also found in a few scattered areas in southeastern Canada. Click on the map on the left to see the breeding range as determined by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). |
| Map not available. | Winter: This bird winters in parts of Mexico, Central America and northern South America. |
 Click maps to enlarge. |
In Park: The Yellow-throated Vireo is a fairly common breeding bird in the Park. This species is a neotropical migrant so it is absent in the winter. In the Park it is most common at lower elevations, but may be seen in a variety of locations throughout the Park. Yellow-throated Vireos prefer open woods or edges so look for this species at Cades Cove or in other areas where there is a forest opening. |
| A survey of breeding birds in the Park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Yellow-throated Vireo as the 66th most common species out of 113 species observed during the breeding season. Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Yellow-throated Vireo density in the Park during the breeding season is approximately 0.011 pairs per hectare. |
NATURAL HISTORY
Breeding habitat
Breeding birds occur in mature, open woodlands of deciduous and mixed deciduous-coniferous trees. They are usually found at forest edges of streams, rivers or swamps.
Mating system
Monogamous; one brood is produced per season, possibly two broods in the south.
Nest
The nest is a rounded cup of bark, grass, roots, leaves, plant down and animal hair, held together with spider webbing or insect silk. Both the male and female build the nest, after the site is chosen from 3 - 4 possible sites previously selected by the male.
Eggs
A clutch will contain from 3 - 5 white to pinkish-white eggs that are marked with brown, usually at the larger end. 18mm (0.7'').
Chick development
Both sexes incubate. The incubation period lasts from 14 – 15 days. Chicks are born altricial. They fledge in 14 days. Both the male and female tend to the fledglings, but will split the brood into two groups and each will take care its own group.
Diet
A wide variety of arthropods make up the main part of this species’ diet, supplemented with a small amount of fruit in the late summer, fall and winter. It forages on the bark and foliage in the middle or upper layers of the forest. Small prey is eaten whole, while larger insects may be shaken or beaten against a branch before being ingested.
Parasites
None of the yellow-throated vireos (all one family group in Cades Cove) examined showed positive for blood parasites (haematozoa).
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
In some areas, the Yellow-throated Vireo’s breeding range has expanded and there has been a slight increase in its numbers. A past dip in the population in some areas of the northwestern United States was believed to be caused by the spraying of insecticides on large trees. There is also some concern about the loss of habitat, especially in its winter range.
This species is frequently parasitized by the cowbird, and often accepts its eggs. However some birds have been know to bury the cowbird eggs in a second layer of nesting material.
Special Protection Status
Rangewide: None.
Region: None.
In Park: All plants and animals are protected within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Collection requires a permit, which is usually granted only for research or educational purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Maps
Breeding: Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2005. Version 6.2.2006. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Winter: N/A
In Park: Discover Life in America - All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. 2007. The ATBI Database. http://tremont22.campus.utk.edu/ATBI_start.cfm, Discover Life in America, Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738.
Photographs
Photo by Terry Sohl, South Dakota Birds -- Photo Gallery.
Song or Call
John R. Sauer, Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Text
Camille Sobun, Susan Ann Shriner, and Paul Super, 2003.
Web page
REFERENCES
Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed. The Union, Washington, D. C.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.
Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.
