Plumbeous Vireo - BirdForum Opus

Vireo plumbeus

Photo by Michael W.
Location: Madera Canyon, Arizona, USA.

Identification

4.75 inches in length, Its head, back and flanks are grey while its underparts are white. The wing bars are white and it has a solid white eye ring.

Distribution

It ranges from far southeastern Montana and western South Dakota south to Mexico, Honduras, northern Nicaragua and Belize. Northern populations are migratory, moving south to northern Mexico in winter.

Taxonomy

This species was formerly considered to belong to the same species as Cassin's Vireo and Blue-headed Vireo. Prior to that, this complex of species was referred to as the Solitary Vireo.

Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized^[1].

• V. p. plumbeus

• Breeds from the interior western USA (north to southern Idaho, Wyoming, southeastern Montana, and southwestern South Dakota) south to southern Mexico (to Guerrero and central Oaxaca); northern populations migratory, wintering in southwestern United States (southern Arizona) and western Mexico (southern Sonora south to southwestern Veracruz and Oaxaca), but resident in southern Mexico (Michoacán, and possibly Jalisco, to Oaxaca

• V. p. gravis

• East central Mexico (Hidalgo, western Veracruz, and northern and western Puebla)

• V. p. montanus

• Southern Mexico (Oaxaca and Chiapas south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) south to Honduras and northern Nicaragua

• V. p. notius

• Pine savanna of Belize

Habitat

Open pine forests.

Behaviour

It builds a cup nest out of bark strips and down in the fork of a twig. It lays 3 to 5 white eggs with some brown spots.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Plumbeous Vireo. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Plumbeous_Vireo

External Links

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