Yellow-Green Vireos in Cameron Parish

Speaking of deerflies, Gary Broussard decided to go birding following the rain on Saturday, May 16. He entered the Peveto Woods Baton Rouge Audubon Society Sanctuary and before long, spotted a bird that he thought might be a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher or something similar. The bird flew before he could confirm its ID or photograph it, and of course, he set out after it. However, the flies were bad that day, and forced a retreat to his car. Gary crafted a makeshift bug suit and went back out. He failed to relocate the flycatcher, but he did find and document a silent Yellow-Green Vireo. Soon after, Phillip Wallace and David Muth pulled up and managed a few brief glimpses of the bird through the gauntlet of flies.

The following day, many birders got looks at the bird. The north wind helped calm the flies down, and the bird was very cooperative. Dave Patton got the nice shot of the bird, above.

Also on Sunday, while birders were checking out Gary's bird, Muth and Wallace found a second Yellow-Green Vireo a few miles to the west. This bird was much brighter than the Peveto bird, and it was singing. Given that most birders have called it a migration by May and that vireos have an easier time hiding in the dense foliage by this time, it's possible that finding two Yellow-Green Vireos in two days was no fluke. There have been a handful of earlier records, including a suspected pair in Cameron Parish in early summer several years back.

Reports and photos at: http://www.losbird.org/lbrc/viewreport9.html