By: Sally Siko

I always enjoy spending time with fledgling birds like this White-eyed Vireo when exploring the outdoors here in central NC.
It was so neat to spend a few minutes watching the little guy being fed by it’s parents. I first located the young one by hearing it’s chirps echoing in the trees as it was calling out for a meal.
After spotting him perched on a low branch, I sat very still on the ground on the ground to await the return of it’s parent.
Happily that did not take very long and I was rewarded with the opportunity to grab a few photos of the encounter!

A White eyed Vireos nest is a marvel of the delicacy of bird brained engineering.
They collect soft strips of bark and grass which is woven into a sturdy hanging basket, fastened to a branch with spiderwebs. It’s actually quite deep relative to the size of its occupants and the mother bird can disappear into the triangular shaped cup simply by ducking her head down.

Incubation of the eggs takes around 15 days and the young will typically stay in the nest for 11 days before fledging. The work is not over for the parents though since the little ones will still be taken care of up to 20 days after fledging before becoming independent.
Interestingly, fledgeling male White-eyed Vireos learn their father’s song very early in life, and may begin mimicking his call as early as one month after leaving the nest.
Young White-eyed Vireos like this little one may even develop some elements of their songs by sampling the song tracks of their avian neighbors.
Pretty cool, huh?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds