Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 16:04:35 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Stasz Subject: Blue-headed and Mountain Vireos MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks! Wilbur Hershberger wrote: "Paul and other Ospreyers, Have you seen Blue-headed vireos other than solitarius in MD? If so which?" * * * There are two subspecies of Blue-headed Vireo that regularly occur in Maryland. The Blue-headed Vireo [Vireo solitarius solitarius] is the migrant that breeds north of us and can be found in every county. The Mountain Vireo [Vireo solitarius alticola] breeds for certain in Garrett County and is presumably the form that breeds in Allegany and Washington [but I haven't personally checked those breeding birds yet]. The Blue-headed has a gray cap that strongly contrasts with a green back. The Mountain Vireo has a gray green back that has less contrast with the cap and looks more like Cassin's Vireo in plumage [see National Geographic Guide]. The Mountain Vireo is larger than the Blue-headed and breeds in the southern Appalachians, and adjacent Piedmont, north to Garrett County and perhaps into southwestern Pennsylvania [see Bent Life Histories]. To my ear, the Mountain Vireo has a harsher sounding song with a lower pitch. Some have suggested the call notes are different [Robin Carter of SC, personal communication]. The Mountain Vireo is in a series of species that have Southern Appalachian subspecies [e.g. Junco hyemalis carolinensis, Dendroica caerulescens cairnsii]. I have personally seen Mountain Vireo in Garret and western Allegany County, and Blue-headed in all of the counties. Good Birding! Jim Jim Stasz North Beach MD jlstasz@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================