Red-eyed Vireo

Species Details

One of the most common forest birds of Tennessee, it is more often heard than seen. From high in the tree canopy it repeats short, robin-like phrases with deliberate pauses through the hottest summer days, giving it the nickname “preacher bird”. It is dull gray-brown with a white eye line. The nest, like other vireos, is a suspended cup of grapevine bark strips, rootlets, and grasses held together with spider silk and decorated with paper from wasp nests.