The First Record of White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) in British Columbia
by
Gary Davidson
Read the full article with photos here.
Introduction and Distribution
The White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) is a small passerine that is normally found in the southern and eastern parts of North America (Sibley 2003). Its breeding range is confined to the eastern one-third of the United States and extreme southern Canada (Dunn and Alderfer 2011). It includes eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, eastern Nebraska, most of Missouri and Illinois, and all states to the east, but not including Maine (Hopp et al. 1995). The normal winter range in continental North America is Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and the Gulf States west to Texas and eastern Mexico (Hopp et al. 1995). In the Pacific Northwest, the White-eyed Vireo is an accidental visitor (Wahl et al. 2005).
This paper documents the first provincial occurrence. Other western regional records include: one record for Alberta, a single bird was seen and photographed at Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park on May 21, 2012 (Koes and Taylor 2013); one Washington record, a singing male was observed at Vashon Island, July 11, 1981 (Tweit and Paulson 1994, Wahl et al. 2005, and Bill Tweit pers. comm.); There were no records in Oregon prior to 2006, (Marshall et al. 2006, OFO 2012); however one record since then, a single bird was observed in Harney Co., on June 9, 2009, (David Irons, pers. comm.).
There are three recognised subspecies in North America: a) the nominate subspecies of White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus griseus) occurs throughout most of its range and is the only subspecies that is highly migratory (Hamilton et al. 2007), b) the subspecies (Vireo griseus maynardi) which is restricted to the Florida Keys (Hopp et al. 1995), c) the subspecies (Vireo griseus micrus) which is found in Southern Texas (Dunn and Alderfer 2011). The subspecies of Southern Texas looks similar to birds found in the Florida Keys, but is overall smaller in size (Dunn and Alderfer 2011).
Occurrence and Documentation
On December 1, 2014, an adult White-eyed Vireo was observed briefly in Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, about 17km east of Nelson on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. The bird was foraging low in an area of woody shrubs adjacent to a small wetland. No photographs were obtained due to the brief appearance of the bird (G. Davidson pers. obs.). The following day, a search was made, but the bird was not relocated (P. Prappas pers. obs.). A further search on December 5, 2014, was successful and photos were obtained (P. Prappas pers. comm.). Further visits to Kokanee Provincial Park on December 5-6, 2014, were also successful (D. Kite pers. comm.). The bird was not reported again after that date. The bird was found to occasionally associate with local Black-capped Chickadees and was found to give brief call notes on occasion (G. Davidson pers. obs.).
The White-eyed Vireo is a casual to accidental species everywhere along the west coast of North America, including California. There are seventy-four accepted state records by the California Bird Records Committee (Hamilton et al. 2007, Tietz and McCaskie 2014). The majority of records occur in the spring when other south-eastern warblers occur as vagrants throughout much of western North America (Roberson 1980). The peak period for White-eyed Vireo occurrences has been from May 6 – June 30 accounting for 78% of state records (Hamilton et al. 2007, Tietz and McCaskie 2014). This is in sharp contrast to the fall period where there are only sixteen state records that have occurred from July 1 – October 31 (Hamilton et al. 2007, Tietz and McCaskie 2014). There is only one winter record for the state, and this bird was found and photographed in Picacho State Recreation Area, Imperial County from January 9-19, 2009 (Tietz and McCaskie 2014). The handful of other west coast records fall into the spring and summer period, and fit well into the California timing of occurrence. Given that the recent sighting from British Columbia occurred in the winter, this makes this record all the more extraordinary. Based on this pattern of records it seems highly likely another White-eyed Vireo will make its way to British Columbia although the likelihood of another winter record seems remote.
