Red-eyed vireo

The red-eyed vireo is one of the most common birds of the summer forest, but most people only hear it. From high in the canopy, the male sings the same short, questioning phrases over and over, even in the heat of midday. He may sing tens of thousands of times in a day.

Up close, it is a neat, olive-green bird with a grey cap, a white eyebrow bordered in black, and, in adults, a red eye. It hunts slowly through the leaves for caterpillars and other insects, and it hangs its cup-shaped nest from a fork in a branch. It arrives in May and leaves for the Amazon basin in late summer.

I enjoy the calm, patient way a red-eyed vireo works through the leaves, with its ruby eye and neat white eyebrow.

To learn more about this bird and its habitat, visit the red-eyed vireo page at All About Birds.

Red-eyed vireo Manitoba sightings

Where and when you can find the red-eyed vireo in Manitoba depends on the season and the habitat. You can see more species in the Manitoba birds section.

Back to Manitoba bird photography, or see the portfolio.