A small, sturdy songbird with a fairly thick, short, and slightly hooked bill.
Relative Size
Larger than a Red-breasted Nuthatch, smaller than a Red-eyed Vireo.
sparrow-sized or smallerMeasurements
- Both Sexes
Plumbeous Vireo Identification
Plumbeous Vireo Photos and Videos
Adult
Small songbird with thick bill, large head, and short neck. Upperparts grayish overall with little to no contrast between head and back. Note bold white "spectacles."
© William Higgins | Macaulay LibraryArizona, January 17, 2017
Adult
Small songbird with thick bill and slow, deliberate foraging style. Fairly uniform grayish upperparts with white underparts; flanks sometimes washed with grayish or yellowish. Two white wingbars.
© Nicole Desnoyers | Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, March 18, 2018
Adult
© Larry Arbanas | Macaulay LibraryArizona, May 01, 2006
Adult (Central American)
Like other vireos, bill is thicker than a warbler's with a slight hook at the tip. Uniform grayish above with white "spectacles" and wingbars; white below.
© John van Dort | Macaulay LibraryCholuteca, October 28, 2019
Adult
Typically forages in small twigs with slow and deliberate pace.
© Zak Pohlen | Macaulay LibraryOregon, August 05, 2017
Adult
© Timothy Barksdale | Macaulay LibraryArizona, May 01, 1994
Adult
© Blair Dudeck | Macaulay LibraryOaxaca, February 26, 2020
Adult
Typically breeds in mountain forests above 3,500 feet elevation, particularly in ponderosa pine and pinyon-juniper. Also uses woodlands along streams including cottonwoods, box elder, and willows, as well as pine-oak forests and oak scrub.
© JB Peck | Macaulay LibraryIdaho, May 27, 2017
Adult
© Gregory Griffith | Macaulay LibraryArizona, May 01, 1995
The Four Keys to ID
- Size & Shapesparrow-sized or smaller
- Color Pattern
- Behavior
- Habitat
Regional Differences
Ornithologists recognize at least four subspecies, but only one of these, the migratory subspecies plumbeus, occurs in the United States. The others are the larger gravis of Puebla and Veracruz, Mexico; the slightly smaller notius of Belize; and the more colorful montanus of southern Mexico south to Honduras, which looks more like a Cassin’s Vireo than other Plumbeous subspecies. The southern three subspecies are nonmigratory.
Species in This Family
Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis(Order: Passeriformes, Family: Vireonidae)
More to Read
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