[TN-Bird] Brown-eyed Vireos
- From: Bill Pulliam <bb551@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:26:02 -0500
This afternoon (8/19/07), I was treated to the best impression of a
Bell's Vireo that I have ever seen a White-eyed Vireo pull off. Not
only did this bird (presumably a juvenile male) have nice dark brown
eyes and faintish whitish spectacles with no trace of yellow, but he
was singing a song that, with only a little effort and selective
listening, was easily interpreted as a mumbly version of the classic
Bell's "wheedlewheeedlewhee wheedlewheedlewoo." So why wasn't this a
Bell's Vireo, you might ponder? Well, because other than looking and
sounding like a Bell's, it didn't look and sound like a Bell's. By
this I mean its size, proportions, actions, "flickiness" or lack
thereof, were all typical White-eyed Vireo. Its wingbars were a bit
too crisp, its head, bill, and tail shape didn't look un-WEVIish in
any way. Plus, if you listened more objectively, you had to admit
that his mumbly song had a few chips and some "chickaparea" like
phrases thrown in, and honestly, well, it was just the juvenile
babblings of a baby boy who hadn't learned to form proper words yet.
I see these Brown-eyed Vireos every year in late summer and early
fall, of course; anyone who lives amidst an abundance of nesting
White-eyed Vireos does. Every year there are one or two like this
bird that really tug on the temptations to make it into a BEVI not a
WEVI. But I considered this bird noteworthy for one particular
reason: I decided out of curiosity to see what the major North
American field guides had to say about this particular ID problem. I
was astounded and profoundly disapointed to discover that they do not
address it at all! I grabbed the four guides I had handy, and here's
a case-by-case breakdown:
Eastern Petersons: Illustrates the head of a young WEVI with a bold
glowingly-yellow set of spectacles. No mention of jizz or behavioral
differences. Dark eye and white eye-ring listed as marks for BEVI.
Robbins: Illustrates young WEVI looking exactly like adult except for
dark eyes. Mentions that yellow spectacles will distinguish it from
Bell's. No mention of jizz or behavior; indeed it references the two
species as "counterparts" which could be taken to suggest there's
little difference.
NGS (an older copy): Juvenile WEVI not illustrated. Text says only
that is is duller with "gray or brown" eyes. BEVI not even compared
with WEVI in text; but (finally!) the distinctive shape, jizz, and
behavior of the BEVI are mentioned.
And finally, the current state of the art, Eastern Sibley: "First
winter" WEVI is illustrated with dark eye but flaming yellow
spectacles and flanks. "Bright yellow spectacles" are listed as a
distinguishing mark "for all" WEVIs. No mention is even suggested of
the white-spectacled juvies of late summer and fall. Entry for BEVI
is extensive including behavior, jizz, shape, and several
distinguishing marks that might eventually let a novice or overeager
intermediate birder realize that their dark-eyed, white-spectacled
WEVI is NOT actually a BEVI, but not very quickly.
So the gist is this: The popular American field guides would leave
most any birder who relied on them thinking that any dark-eyed,
whitish-spectacled, wingbarred, smallish vireo is a Bell's Vireo,
unless they are very dilligent in investigating the subtler aspects
of bird ID. Why no guide even bothers to mention that some Juvenile
WEVIs can be very drab and appear to have whitish spectacles, hence
other field marks must be examined, is a mystery to me. Just another
argument for learning to bird primarly from other birders and then
only secondarily from field guides, but not everyone has that luxury.
Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald, Lewis County TN
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