Bird Conservation – Bell’s Vireo
June 25, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
The Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii) is a shy little bird of shrubby habitats found in the midwest, southwest United States, and northern Mexico. With an estimated 1.5 million individuals, this vireo has declined approximately by over 60% since 1966.
While hard to find in northern Illinois, some important breeding areas can be found in Arizona at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and the San Pedro Riparian National Wildlife Area. In Texas, Big Bend National Park and the Nature Conservancy’s David Mountain Preserve also holds breeding populations.
At Camp Pendleton military base in California, approximately half the population of the subspecies Least Bell’s Vireo can be found. Accommodating military bases can be extremely important to many bird species.
Conservation Needs
- Increase acreage of riparian and shrubby habitat
- Improve riparian habitat degraded by grazing and invasive plant species
- Develop baseline inventory of breeding and wintering populations
Conservation Action
The Upper San Pedro Partnership includes many organizations working to improve the area along the San Pedro River. Less conservation efforts have been made in the Midwest, but we feel that places in Illinois could support more Bell’s Vireo if the habitat was managed for them. This is one of the 14 birds on our Focused Bird Conservation Project
Full details on this species and 99 other North American birds at risk can be found in Jeffrey V. Wells’ Birder’s Conservation Handbook.
Vireo Set Completed and A Field of Kingbirds
May 29, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
This is the part four of six of Birdfreak’s 72-hour birding extravaganza. Our goal was to find as many bird species as possible within Winnebago County, Illinois.
Anna Page Park
We birded Anna Page Park after Sugar River Forest Preserve on day two. It was 70 degrees when we began our hike in search of more vireos and a Yellow-breasted Chat. We never did find a chat, but we first heard and then saw a Bell’s Vireo. This completed all seven vireos possible in Winnebago County: Red-eyed, White-eyed, Philadelphia, Yellow-throated, Blue-headed, Warbling, and Bell’s.
Bell’s Vireo at Anna Page Park
The team took a short rest in the afternoon and then headed over to Oak Ridge Forest Preserve. Our main goal was to find Red-headed Woodpeckers and a few more warbler species but struck out on both accounts. The highlight here included a dried out grassy field holding over 25 Eastern Kingbirds…we left when we started to become delusional over finding a Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
After a short hike at nearby Rotary Road Forest Preserve we decided to call an end to day two of our 72-hour count.
