Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius), Hassayampa River Preserve, Maricopa County

This probable Blue-headed Vireo was found and photographed by Robert Hamilton on 07 November 2015

There are few accepted records of the Blue-headed Vireo in Arizona, none of which have been photographed. The Arizona Bird Committee takes a conservative approach to reports of this species, which can be indistinguishable from the regularly-occurring Cassin's Vireo.

On average, Blue-headed Vireos are more contrastingly marked than Cassin's, with brighter yellow contrasting with cleaner white on the underparts, a darker steel-blue cap contrasting more strongly with the white throat and spectacles and green back, and more white on the wing and tail edgings.

Robert notes: "The bird was observed chasing around with a Cassin's Vireo, with the Blue-headed acting as aggressor. Both birds remained mostly in shade for the duration of observation, which totaled about a minute. The chest and belly of the Blue-headed Vireo were cleaner white than typical for Cassin's Vireo. The clear yellow sides and vent were prominent, even in the relatively poor lighting conditions, and the division between the bright white throat and gray face was well-defined (shown well in photo 1). Contrast between head and back could not be judged given the views I had. I spent most of the minute or so I could see the bird attempting to documenting the record with photos, but did spend about 10 seconds actually studying the bird through binoculars. The intensity of yellow in the photos may appear underwhelming, but consider how poor the lighting is -- I was photographing in manual mode at ISO 400, attempting to counter the backlit conditions. When I briefly viewed the bird in decent light, the intensity of pure yellow all along the sides and flanks, and across the vent, was rather striking. The Cassin's Vireo that was with this bird was a straightforward Cassin's, with yellow-green sides fading out at the flanks, somewhat duskier underparts, and generally lower-contrast plumage. I heard what I believed to be the Blue-headed Vireo scold several times during the observation, in response to my pishing and playback of Blue-headed Vireo song and scolds on my phone."

07 November 2015, photo by Robert Hamilton

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