White-Eyed Vireo
Vireo griseus
Also known as: Chick-Of-The-Village, Hanging Bird, White-Eyed Flycatcher
About This Species
A small, olive-backed songbird of dense thickets and scrubby woodland edges, more often heard than seen as it sings its emphatic, variable song from deep within tangled cover. Its white eye-ring and eye is a useful mark on the rare occasions it comes into the open. Spring through early summer, when males sing persistently to defend territory in brushy edges and overgrown fields, is the best window to locate one by ear.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- This species stays low in dense brush and will retreat further into cover if pressed, so a patient stationary listen near a thicket edge works better than trying to push in for a view.
- Nesting songbirds in scrub habitat are protected from deliberate disturbance under wildlife law across its range, and its low, tangled nest sites make it easy to disturb without realising it.
- Staying on trails at the edge of brushy habitat, rather than entering thickets during the breeding season, is the simplest way to avoid disrupting a nest.
LCAvesPasseriformesVireonidae
Seasonal Activity
2,399,248 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Vireonidae
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.