[cobirds] Re: Gray Vireo singing from the nest , Mesa County

We have studied Gray Vireos for over 10 years and have monitored hundreds of nests. We frequently find nests with sitting, singing males but have never observed females singing on nests. While females do sometimes sing a few notes, as we've observed it this behavior generally seems to occur also when their mates are singing, as sort of a courtship ritual and/or contact call. Sometimes they sing some notes and also squeaky calls and their distinctive trill prior to copulation. When they do sing, it is usually a few notes at a time, noticeably different than the males, with softer, shorter notes, and not nearly as extensive or melodic as the males. 

Lynn Wickersham

Durango

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 4:54:10 PM UTC-6, John D wrote:

CO Birders :

While visiting my son in New Castle this past weekend , I took the opportunity to do an early morning visit to Cameo and Coal Canyon in Mesa county before it got too hot and the motor bikes and ATV's started up.

I did get to see and photograph Chukar my target bird , male and female , they seem to have moved much further up Coal Canyon than previous years , probably because of the active shooting range in the lower part of the Canyon.

And I did find a Gray Vireo nest in juniper in Coal Canyon , took me over half an hour to find it , could hear the bird singing but just could not see it despite being only 6 feet from the sound . So eventually I found the nest and the bill of the vireo just poking above the rim of the nest . My question is what sex was this bird , can both male and female vireos sing the same song from the nest ?. It was singing the same song as on Sibley.

John Drummond

Colorado Springs 

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