Mid Atlantic Nature: Vireo Nests

Last July Tom Feild and I went exploring in Pocomoke State Forest. One of the interesting things we found on our walk was this nest.

White-eyed Vireo nest

Photo: Jim Brighton

It was hanging under a limb in a small tree about five feet off the ground. It was a striking nest, made of lichens, fur, spider webs, and other various bits. At first, I thought it belonged to a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher since gnatcatchers use lichens in their nest construction. I wanted verification so I recently sent the photo to various people to see if they could identify the nest builder. Everyone agreed that the nest was made by a vireo and probably a White-eyed Vireo. Marshall Iliff pointed out that Blue-gray Gnatcatchers always build their nests on top of a branch (like the photo below) and vireo nests are always built underneath the branch.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest

Photo: Patricia Velte

My nest mystery was solved and my curiosity piqued. I spent the next evening reading about vireo nests online. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, vireos always build their nests underneath a branch. This is called pensive nesting. Vireo nests are built at different heights according to species. Red-eyed Vireos usually build their nest high in the tops of trees while White-eyed Vireo nests are normally built a few feet off the ground. In a study conducted by Eastern Kentucky University they found if a White-eyed Vireo nest was comprised by predation the parent vireos would leave the jeopardized nest and would build another nest in three to five days. They also noted that it was possible for a White-eyed Vireo pair to build three to four nests in a breeding season. Amazed at their intricate nest construction, I thought it would be cool to post a photograph of a nest from each species of vireo that breed in the Mid Atlantic region.