Yellow-throated vireo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Yellow-throated vireo |
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Vireo
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| Species: |
flavifrons
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The yellow-throated vireo (Vireo flavifrons) is a small, colorful American songbird. It is known for its bright yellow throat and its lovely songs. This bird travels long distances between its summer and winter homes.
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What's in a Name?
The name "Vireo" comes from a Latin word. It might have described a green bird that travels, like the golden oriole or the European greenfinch. The second part of its scientific name, flavifrons, also comes from Latin. Flavus means "yellow" and frons means "forehead". So, its name literally means "yellow-forehead vireo"!
What Does a Yellow-throated Vireo Look Like?
Adult yellow-throated vireos have olive-green feathers on their heads and backs. Their throats are a bright yellow, and their bellies are white. They have dark eyes with yellow rings around them, which look a bit like "spectacles." Their tails and wings are dark, with two white stripes on each wing. They have strong, blue-grey legs and a thick bill.
How Big Are They?
- Length: About 5.1 to 5.9 inches (13 to 15 cm) long.
- Weight: They weigh about 0.5 to 0.7 ounces (15 to 21 grams). That's about as much as a few quarters!
- Wingspan: Their wings can spread about 9.1 inches (23 cm) wide.
Where Do Yellow-throated Vireos Live?
These birds like to live in open deciduous forests. These are forests where trees lose their leaves in the fall. You can find them breeding in southern Canada and the eastern United States.
Traveling for Winter
When winter comes, yellow-throated vireos fly south. They migrate to warmer places like the deep southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Sometimes, a few birds get lost and fly much farther. They have been seen as rare visitors in western Europe. For example, one was spotted in Cornwall, Great Britain, in 1990, and another in Heligoland, Germany, in 1998.
What Do Yellow-throated Vireos Eat?
Yellow-throated vireos mostly eat insects. They search for bugs high up in the trees. They also enjoy eating berries, especially before they start their long migration. In winter, they are sometimes seen eating the fruit from the gumbo-limbo tree (Bursera simaruba).
Nesting Habits
These birds build their nests in a special way. They make a strong, cup-shaped nest. They attach it carefully to a fork in a tree branch, high off the ground.
See also
In Spanish: Vireo gorjiamarillo para niños
