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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Vireo olivaceus
Red-eyed Vireo

 
Scientific Name: Vireo olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766)
English Name: Red-eyed Vireo
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-REVI
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Passeriformes Vireonidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5B (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: A 15-cm-long bird with a sturdy, slightly hooked bill, blue-gray crown, white eyebrow (bordered above and below with black), dark olive back, darker wings and tail, pale, unstreaked underparts, and a red eye (brown in fall juveniles); immatures and some fall adults are yellow on the flanks and undertail coverts; subspecies FLAVOVIRIDIS, which sometimes occurs in California and Texas, is yellower overall, with less distinct black lines on the head (NGS 1983).
Global Reproduction Comments: Nests from mid-May to mid-August (peak late May to mid-July) in the mid-Atlantic region (see Bushman and Therres 1988). Clutch size 3-5 in north (usually 4). Occasionally 2 broods per year. Incubation 11-14 days, mostly or entirely by female. Young tended by both parents, leave nest at 10-14 days. One of commonest cowbird hosts.
Global Ecology Comments: 45 territories averaged 0.7 ha per pair (Harrison 1979). In maple forests in Quebec, density averaged 1.2 pairs/ha (Darveau et al. 1992). In the Great Lakes region, populations were negatively affected by drought (Hagan and Johnston 1992).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Migrates northward through the eastern U.S. March-May (Terres 1980). North American breeders winter mostly in Amazon basin (Hilty and Brown 1986). Colombia inhabited by resident populations, as well as migrants from temperate and tropical areas to the north and south (Hilty and Brown 1986). North American breeders migrate through Costa Rica mainly late August-early November and early April-late May (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Breeders in southern South America move to Amazonia and southern Venezuela for austral winter (mainly April-August) (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989).
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence) 		Anthropogenic / Urban/Suburban / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Deciduous/Broadleaf Forest / Facultative - frequent use
Forest / Mixed Forest (deciduous/coniferous mix) / Facultative - frequent use
Riparian / Riparian Forest / Facultative - frequent use
Global Habitat Comments: Open deciduous (less frequently coniferous) forest (especially with sapling undergrowth), mixed forest with deciduous understory, second-growth woodland, scrub, thickets, gardens, mangroves. Most abundant in mature stands. In much of the range, prefers shady oak forests with a high, well-developed closed canopy and a fairly open understory with scanty ground cover (see Bushman and Therres 1988). Most common in forest tracts of at least 15-20 ha but may occur in patches as small as a few hectares (see Bushman and Therres 1988). Prefers closed canopy but tolerates a wide range of canopy closures. In Pennsylvania, more sensitive than other area-dependent birds to increased fragmentation via forest clear-cutting (Yahner 1993). In migration and winter in various open forest, forest edge, woodland, scrub, and brush habitats. Colombia: low to fairly high in shrubby clearings and forest borders (Hilty and Brown 1986).

Nests in fork of slender branch of shrub or low tree, 1-15 m (usually 1-3 m) above ground.
Food Habits: Frugivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: In north, eats mostly insects, also eats small fruits and arillate seeds; forages in tree canopy, gleans insects from high deciduous foliage (Terres 1980, Bushman and Therres 1988). Notably frugivorous, almost totally so away from breeding areas (Hilty and Brown 1986, Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Ridgely and Tudor 1989).
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 15/ / 17
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: BREEDS: British Columbia, probably southeastern Alaska, and Mackenzie to northern Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, south to northern Oregon, northern Idaho, eastern Colorado, Texas, Gulf Coast, and southern Florida; CHIVI group: South America from Colombia, Venezuela and adjacent islands, and Guianas south, west of Andes to western Ecuador and east of Andes to eastern Peru, Bolivia, and central Argentina, also on Fernando de Noronha off Brazil (AOU 1983, 1987). NORTHERN WINTER: South America (western Amazonia); eastern Colombia, southern Venezuela, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and western Brazil; CHIVI group: northern part of breeding range south to Amazon basin (AOU 1983).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: May 02, 1995
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1987. Thirty-sixth supplement to the AOU Checklist of North American Birds. Auk 104:591-596.
Banks, R. C., and M. R. Browning. 1995. Comments on the status of revived old names for some North American birds. Auk 112:633-648.
Barlow, J.C. 1980. Patterns of ecological interactions among migrant and resident vireos on the wintering grounds. Pages 79-107 in A. Keast and E.S. Morton, editors. Migrant birds in the neotropics: ecology, distribution, and conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Bent, A.C. 1950. Life histories of North American wagtails, shrikes, vireos, and their allies. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 197. Washington, D.C.
Bushman, E. S., and G. D. Therres. 1988. Habitat management guidelines for forest interior breeding birds of coastal Maryland. Maryland Dept. Natural Resources, Wildlife Tech. Publ. 88-1. 50 pp.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp.
Darveau, M., J. L. DesGranges, and G. Gauthier. 1992. Habitat use by three breeding insectivorous birds in declining maple forests. Condor 94:72-82.
Droege, S., and J.R. Sauer. 1990. North American Breeding Bird Survey, annual summary, 1989. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Report 90(8). 22 pp.
Hagan, J. M., III, and D. W. Johnston, editors. 1992. Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xiii + 609 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
Hilty, S.L. and W. L. Brown. 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA. 836 pp.
Johnson, N. K., and R. M. Zink. 1985. Genetic evidence for relationships among red-eyed, yellow-green, and chivi vireos. Wilson Bull. 97:421-435.
Johnson, N. K., R. M. Zink, and J. A. Marten. 1988. Genetic evidence for relationships in the avian family Vireonidae. Condor 90:428-445.
Keast, A., and E.S. Morton. 1980. Migrant birds in the neotropics: ecology, distribution, and conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Murray, B.W., W.B. McGillivray, and J.C. Barlow. 1994. The use of cytochrome B sequence variation in estimation of phylogeny in the Vireonidae. Condor 96(4):1037-1054.
National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp.
Ridgely, R. S., and J. A. Gwynne, Jr. 1989. A guide to the birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Second edition. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 534 pp.
Sauer, J.R., and S. Droege. 1992. Geographical patterns in population trends of Neotropical migrants in North America. Pages 26-42 in J.M. Hagan, III, and D.W. Johnston, editors. Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Yahner, R. H. 1993. Effects of long-term forest clear-cutting on wintering and breeding birds. Wilson Bull. 105:239-255.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1995. Species Summary: Vireo olivaceus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 7, 2026).