Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii Audubon — John Shaqi
Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii AudubonBarlow, Jon C.
Science
Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii Audubon
Barlow, Jon C.
Bell vireo; Birds
2. The Bell Vireo sings more often daily and throughout the nesting
season than do the majority of its avian nesting associates. Six types
of vocalizations are readily distinguishable in the field: primary
song, courtship song, distress call, alarm note, specialized male call
note or _zip_, and the generalized call note or _chee_.
3. Territories are established in early May and occupied throughout
the breeding season and post-breeding season. The average size of the
territories in 1960 was 1.25 acres. Shifting of territorial boundaries
occasionally occurs after nesting attempts.
4. Territory is maintained primarily by song, but at least five
aggressive displays are manifest in the early phases of territorial
establishment. These include: (a) vocal threat, (b) head-forward
threat, (c) wing-flicking and sub-maximal tail-fanning, (d) ruffling
and maximum tail-fanning, and (e) supplanting attack.
5. The precise mechanism of pair-formation in the Bell Vireo is not
known. Early courtship activities are characteristically violent
affairs. Absence of sexual dimorphism suggests that behavioral
criteria are used by the birds in sex-recognition; the male is
dominant and the female is subordinate.
6. The principal displays associated with courtship include: greeting
ceremonies, "pouncing," "leap-flutter," pre- and post-copulatory
displays, and the posture, copulation. The marked similarity between
elements of courtship display and aggressive display suggests common
origin or the derivation of one from the other.
7. The nest-site probably is selected by the female. Nests are
suspended from lateral or terminal forks about 2 feet 3 inches high in
small trees and shrubs averaging 11 feet 2 inches in height.
8. Nestbuilding is intimately associated with courtship and is a
responsibility of both sexes. The male builds the suspension apparatus
and the female constructs and lines the bag. Both sexes participate in
adorning the exterior. Construction lasts from four and one-half to
five days.
9. The nest is compact, pendant, and composed of strips of bark and
strands of grasses that are interwoven and tightly bound with animal
silk. Nests built in May are bulkier than those constructed later in
the season.
10. Egglaying begins on the first or second day after the nest is
completed. The eggs are deposited early in the morning. The average
clutch-size of the Bell Vireo in Kansas is 3.39 eggs.
11. Both sexes sit on the eggs, but only the female truly incubates
because the male lacks a brood patch. Incubation lasts fourteen days.
12. The Bell Vireo is double-brooded in "good" years.
13. Nesting failure resulted from severe weather, predation,
parasitism by cowbirds, and human interference. Behavior that
contributes to nesting failure is selection of an unfavorable
nest-site, singing on and near the nest, and the tendency to flush
from the nest in view of potential enemies.
LITERATURE CITED
AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION
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