Saturday, July 12, 2008

Red-eyed Vireo

I almost missed this one, and its a life bird for me! Yesterday I first heard, then saw this very noisy bird near the top of a tall Oak in the same location where I had seen a Philadelpia Vireo last year. I am not at all familiar with vireos and so thought this one was probably a Philadelpia as well. As I seldom use binoculars it wasn't until I zoomed in on a downloaded photo at home that I saw its red eye! Then I looked carefully for other distinguishing features of the Red-yed Vireo and saw its gray crown with a dark border lining it and pale yellow markings on its undertail and sides. This sighting is a welcome addition to my life list and my second vireo sighting.

7 comments:

Becky said...

I don't believe I've ever seen a vireo. I don't even think I know what one sounds like. Pretty nice find!
I like your header with all the geese in a row.

kjpweb said...

Beautiful! It's a Lifer that I still miss! Great find!
Cheers, Klaus

Mary said...

Congratulations! Don't you love it when you can check off another bird on the list?? There aren't any vireos checked off my list, so you are 2 ahead of me :-) It's a pretty little bird and without computers to study our pictures on, I wonder how often we would fail to identify some bird we see??

Mike said...

Lovely shots, great looking bird.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the lifer! That you got such great photos of it is an added bonus.

me ann my camera said...

becky:
Thanks for your mention of the header; I really like their line-up as well.

klaus:
I would trade a Red-eyed Vireo and a Cedar Waxwing for photos like your Snowy Egret anytime!

mary:
The computer was the key to finding it really for I wasn't too interesting in posting the vireo pics until I SAW the red eye!

mike and wren:
Glad that you enjoy the photos of the vireo.

Ruth said...

I photographed a red-eyed bird last week and thought at first it was a red-eyed vireo, but it was a black-billed cuckoo. I did see a vireo too, but not close enough to see the eye. Bird IDs can be challenging! Your picture is better than the one in my bird guide.