5.25 inches long. The Philadelphia Vireo is a small vireo with a dark eye and a thick hooked bill and no wing bars. The upperparts are olive. The underparts are yellow with the breast being the brightest yellow and the throat being the palest yellow. These underparts generally become more yellow in the fall. The legs are blue-gray.
The Philadelphia Vireo is an uncommon migrant that is seen anytime throughout the month of May and again from early September through mid October.
The Philadelphia Vireo is a common but obscure bird. Since it is so similar to the Red-eyed Vireo in plumage and in song, it gets overlooked. The Philadelphia and Red-eyed vireos can coexist in the same places because the Philadelphia Vireo modifies its behavior by foraging in areas seldom used by Red-eyed Vireos. It was named for a specimen collected in Philadelphia even though the bird is relatively unusual in that area. It has the most northerly breeding range of all the vireos. It feeds chiefly on caterpillar and strongly prefers to forage in successional tree species. Its song is a series simple whistled phrases similar to a Red-eyed Vireo but higher and weaker “cheerio wit, cheree, sissy a wit, tee o”.
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