Episode 57: Warbling Vireo – Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

This cheerful song belongs to one of the plainest of our summer residents, Even bright individuals have only the barest of a yellow tinge on their front and the slightest of a white eyebrow. It is almost as if this plain bird is the blank on which nature prints the other vireos. This is the warbling vireo.

The warbling vireo can sound like a few other singers with bright, jumbled songs, especially the purple finch. To tell them apart, listen close to the end of the song; the warbling vireo’s nearly always sweeps upward. And, here it is again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW