Small songbird with a bill larger than a warbler's but fairly small for a vireo. Brownish-gray overall with two pale wingbars, the upper one less distinct than the lower one. Flanks are usually washed yellow.
Small songbird with a heavier bill than a warbler. Brownish-gray overall with two whitish wingbars. "Least" subspecies (endangered) occurs in California and is the grayest form, with almost no green or yellow.
Song has been described as "the musical equivalent of a scribble"—jerky warbling phrases, the first ending on an upslur, the next on a downslur.
Small songbird with pale arcs around the eye, interrupted by dark line through eye. Brownish-gray overall with two wingbars, the lower one more prominent.
Small songbird with a heavier bill than a warbler's. "Eastern" subspecies is the brightest, with greenish back, yellow flanks, and gray head with dark line through eye and broken white eyering.
Occurs in shrubs and thickets, often fairly low. "Arizona" subspecies is mostly gray-brown with wingbars that can be indistinct. Flanks can show faint yellow.
Small songbird with fairly small bill for a vireo. Grayish overall with pale arcs around the eye, broken by a dark line through the eye. Wingbars can be indistinct. Yellow wash on flanks is often faint.
Click on an image to compare
A diminutive songbird with a slim build and a slender, somewhat long tail. Its bill is small for a vireo, but still thicker and more hooked than a warbler’s.
Larger than a kinglet, smaller than a Red-eyed Vireo.
sparrow-sized or smallerBirds nesting in the Midwest to Colorado and central Texas (subspecies bellii) are the most brightly colored, with greenish backs and yellowish sides and flanks. At the other end of the species’ range, in southern California and adjacent Mexico, the tiny Least Bell’s Vireo (listed as endangered) is grayish above and pale below. Two subspecies that occur in between (from eastern California to far western Texas) are intermediate between bellii and pusillus in appearance.
Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis(Order: Passeriformes, Family: Vireonidae)
Need Bird ID Help? Try Merlin
The Cornell Lab will send you updates about birds,
birding, and opportunities to help bird conservation.
