I have spent some time sorting through my bird photos lately thinning out my images and trying to use some discretion in weeding out the best from the average. I have over 11K bird photos so needless to say I have re-discovered a few surprises.
When I took these photos I had no idea what bird this was. Fast forward six years and when I saw these photos again I was stunned that I had photographed a juvenile Blue-Headed Vireo! The irony here is that I spent a significant amount of time in the last two years trying to find this bird and get a decent photo!! The third photo in the series is the best capture I made last spring.
My mantra in the field has been “take the photo now ID the bird later”. This has helped me enormously in learning how to ID birds. The more time I spend out in the field, the more familiar I get with the ways different birds move, putting into practice identifying field marks, and learning birdsongs.
In the north, blue-headed vireos are the only species that nest in coniferous forests of pine, spruce, or fir. They appear to prefer building their nests in spruce trees at about 6-15 feet off the ground. The Blue-headed Vireo is the only vireo within its range that makes extensive use of coniferous forests so searching within a mature mixed forest with lots of spruce and fir are your best bet for finding this bird.
The oldest recorded Blue-headed Vireo was at least 6 years, 5 months old. It was banded in Ontario and found in Guatemala.