Philadelphia Vireo

About the Philadelphia Vireo

A neat, subtly colored vireo, the Philadelphia Vireo is olive above and washed with pale yellow below - brightest on the throat and chest - with a gray cap, a dark line through the eye, and a pale eyebrow. It closely resembles the Warbling Vireo but is yellower beneath, and its dark eye-line helps set it apart.

Philadelphia Vireos glean insects methodically from the foliage, moving more slowly and deliberately than the warblers they often travel among, and they take berries in fall.

In Texas the Philadelphia Vireo is a migrant, passing through in spring and fall on its way between northern breeding forests and the tropics, most likely in the eastern half of the state and along the coast in woodlands and brushy edges.

A note from behind the lens: migrants like this one give you narrow windows, so work the active edges where birds are feeding. Track one as it gleans, prefocus on an open twig ahead of its path, and use soft light to render the delicate yellow wash without blowing it out.