Verification of Unusual
Sight Record
For Utah
Rec. # 2007-25b
| Common name: |
Blue-headed Vireo |
| Scientific name: | Vireo solitarius |
| Date: | September 3, 2007 |
| Time: | 9:30 AM |
| Length of time observed: | 2 minutes |
| Number: | 1 |
| Age: | adult |
| Sex: | |
| Location: | Garr Ranch, Antelope Island |
| County: | Davis |
| Latilong: | |
| Elevation: | 4500'? |
| Distance to bird: | 15-20 feet |
| Optical equipment: | Pentax 10x42, Nikon 8x42 |
| Weather: | calm, hot |
| Light Conditions: | sunny |
| Description: Size of bird: | 5 inches |
| (Description:) Basic Shape: | songbird |
| (Description:) Overall Pattern: | short, blunt |
| (Description:) Bill Type: | |
|
(Description:)
Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics: |
Gray bill was short and blunt. Dark eye. Strongly contrasting bold white
spectacles in a dark slate-blue head. Olive back and tail, white wing bars.
White chin and throat. The blue head was distinctly separate in color from the back. Border between the head and throat was sharp. Flanks of bird had a strong yellow-green wash. Belly and undertail were white. |
| Song or call & method of delivery: | none |
| Behavior: | Hopping and flitting through tree branches looking for bugs. |
| Habitat: | Riparian (mainly cottonwood trees) |
| Similar
species and
how were they eliminated: |
Short, blunt bill eliminates warblers. Cassin's and Plumbeous Vireo have gray, not dark slate-blue, heads. Neither do their heads strongly contrast with their backs. Cassin's Vireo does not have the distinct separation of head and neck color, nor the heavy yellow-green wash on the flanks. |
| Previous
experience with this & similar species: |
Blue-headed seen a couple dozen times since 1993 in Texas, Florida, Ontario, Maine. Plumbeous and Cassin's seen yearly in Utah. |
| References consulted: | Sibley, Nat'l Geographic |
| Description from: | From memory |
| Observer: | Joel and Kathy Beyer |
| Observer's address: | 1719 Hillcrest Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84106-3623 |
| Observer's e-mail address: | twobirders@juno.com |
| Other observers who independently identified this bird: | |
| Date prepared: | September 3, 2007 |
| Additional material: | |
| Additional Comments: | Could this be the same bird seen by Merrill and Tim two weeks ago? Maybe, but if so, where has it been hiding?! |