Vireo Cousins Coexist on Yucatan Peninsula
By Gregory Gough
White-eyed vireos breed in eastern North America. But from October to April they range from Mexico to Central America and the Caribbean.
On the Yucatan Peninsula, they invade the year-round range of the resident Yucatan vireo. The species resemble each other. In fact, early ornithologists considered them to be the same species. But the white-eyed is a little larger with a somewhat longer tail and wing: perhaps these are helpful for their long migrations.
So, we've got two species occupying the same general area for much of the year. How do they get along?
Well, they don't fight, much. They each defend a territory, but when scientists played recorded calls they reacted much more forcefully to their own species than to the other.
They do segregate themselves. White-eyed vireos move into the forests while the Yucatan vireos inhabit the shrubby overgrown fields, pastures, and forest edges. Even during the summer, when the white-eyed vireos are gone, the Yucatans stay put in their shrubby environs.
Within their respective habitats they do pretty much the same thing. Scientists watched their activities, and they spend about the same amount of time foraging, hopping, and doing other activities. White-eyed vireos tend to do these activities higher up in the vegetation, but this seems reasonable given that they live in the forest.
But there is one difference between the two species. White-eyed vireos eat a lot more fruit, specifically from the gumbo-limbo tree (Bursera simaruba). Gumbo-limbo fruits throughout the winter and white-eyed vireos will chase off any vireo, including its Yucatan cousins, trying to sneak a bite.
This article summarizes the information in this publication:
Greenberg, Russell S. 1993. Frugivory and coexistence in a resident and migratory vireo on the Yucatan Peninsula. The Condor, 95: 990-999.
The White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) and the Mangrove Vireo (V. pallens) are two of the most common species of insectivorous bird on the Yucatan Peninsula. Mangrove Vireo pairs maintain year-long territories primarily in scrub, whereas individual White-eyed Vireos defend territories in a broad range of terrestrial habitats. The two species show a strong reciprocal distribution along a successional gradient from regenerating pasture and old field to mature dry forest. Within second growth scrub, White-eyed Vireos are primarily associated with patches of trees.
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