Saskatchewan Birds – Oiseaux in the Land of Living Skies – Post #13

Saskatchewan’s slogan, “The Land of Living Skies” could refer as much to its magnificent birdlife as it does to its awe-inspiring Northern Lights and spectacular thunderstorms experienced there. This centrally located Canadian Province’s “Land of Living Skies” is home to over 400 recorded oiseaux (Fr. bird) species. Using my personal photographs in a blog post format, viewers will learn about the natural history and conservation status of these interesting birds in the Land of Living Skies!
A Reflections of the Natural World Blog Post Series by Jim Gain

WHAT’S IN A NAME

Warbling Vireo – Vireo gilvus
Name Roots: (L. vireo, “a small bird” [possibly the greenfinch] – gilvus, “yellowish”)

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Warbling Vireo is a small gray-olive bird with white underparts sometimes slightly washed yellow, especially on flanks and undertail coverts. Its upperparts are primarily grayish-tinged olive green (except crown). Face with moderately distinct white supercilium contrasting indistinctly with grayish eye-line, but otherwise very plain, without additional contrasting markings. It is far less conspicuous to the eye than to the ear. Males and females are alike in plumage.

DISTRIBUTION & OCCURENCE IN THE LAND OF LIVING SKIES

Warbling Vireos prefer deciduous and mixed woods, aspen groves, poplars, shade trees. They breed in open deciduous or mixed woodland; also in orchards, shade trees of towns. They avoid unbroken mature forest.

eBird Bar Charts & Map Grid

CONSERVATION STATUS – International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Category

The Warbling Vireo is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Redlist Classification Justification: This species has an extremely large range, the population trend appears to be increasing, and the population size is extremely large. For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.