Bell’s Vireo Gallery

Vireo bellii

eBird provides this description for the Bell’s Vireo:  Drab vireo whose scratchy song is heard from dense, scrubby vegetation, often near water. Difficult to see through thick brush. Eastern birds have yellow flanks and olive-green back; are brighter than western birds. Note vague “spectacles” around eye and one white wingbar. Western birds vary from dull olive above to entirely plain gray; usually one wingbar. Look for long tail, often cocked. Very active, flitting around nervously.  All About Birds provides this additional descriptive information about the Bell’s Vireo:  A tireless little bird of thickets and thorn scrub, the Bell’s Vireo nests from the Midwest to the Southwest and into northern Mexico. Though plain in plumage, males sing so energetically and distinctively that overlooking them during the breeding season is difficult. Nevertheless, with the loss of their preferred habitats across the continent, the species has become scarce in many places where it was once common.

I saw my first Bell’s Vireo on my visit to the Christmas Mountains Oasis on August 31, 2020.   I enjoyed watching this little bird!

Bell's Vireo at the CMO water drip...looks like he is drinking to me (see "Cool Facts" below)! August 31, 2020.
Bell's Vireo at Christmas Mountains Oasis, August 31, 2020.


“Cool Facts” about the Bell’s Vireo from All About Birds…

  • John James Audubon was the first naturalist to notice and formally describe Bell’s Vireo, during his 1843 exploration of the Missouri River. He called it “the greenlet” and named it for his friend, John Graham Bell, a taxidermist from Tappan, New York, who accompanied him on the expedition. (Bell’s Sparrow is also named in his honor.) Bell taught the young Theodore Roosevelt how to prepare specimens of birds and mammals.
  • A pair of Bell’s Vireos sometimes forage together during the breeding season, moving upward through branches in a spiral, gleaning insects from the vegetation.
  • There is no reported observation of a Bell’s Vireo drinking water. It may be able to obtain all of the water that it needs from its food.
  • The oldest recorded Bell’s Vireo was a Least Bell’s Vireo that was at least 9 years, 1 month old, when it was recaptured and re-released during a banding operation in California in 2008.