Red-eyed Vireo Alley

When you walk the Little Miami Bike Trail near the powder factory, there is one spring/summer visitor you will always hear, the Red-eyed Vireo. This neotropical migrant sings almost non-stop and has a call that is easy to recognize. Since the day the vireos arrived this spring, I have heard them every time I’ve been on the trail, no matter the hour of the day or the type of weather. You can also tell where one bird’s territory leaves off and another’s picks up, because the new owner is usually there to tell you. He has a happy call, and a fairly loud call too, “Look up!…See me?...Over here….This way…Higher still!”




The Red-eyed Vireo was one of the first migrant’s songs I ever learned. I had read that a Scarlet Tanager sang a lot like an American Robin with a sore throat. So when I heard a song reminiscent of a robin’s song one day I thought by chance it might be a Scarlet Tanager, but soon enough I tracked him down and found instead a Red-eyed Vireo! That was a long time ago, and I’ll always remember that moment of recognition. It made me feel good to have figured something out on my own. It also helped me realize the power of birding by ear. Luckily, I had the song cemented into my brain that morning because the bird went on to sing about 20 reps before flying to some other part of his territory.


This lovely summer bird never seems to tire. Even in the heat of a summer’s day at noon I’ve heard him piping out his little song. Recently, I read in Jim McCormac’s book, “Birds of Ohio,” that “a pair requires only about one acre of forest for their territory, so densities can be quite high.” This explains the non-broken line of vireo song I hear as I walk along the Little Miami Bike Trail and why the trail becomes “Red-eyed Vireo Alley” in the summer.

The Little Miami Bike Trail and Red-eyed Vireos

When Matty got home from school today, we decided to head over to the Little Miami River to see if we could catch any spring migrants. The weather was warm (mid 80s) and the sun was shining. The weather report said today would be the last of the summer-like warmth and the rains were moving in, so we thought we had better get out to bird while the getting was good! As soon as we hit the trail, we found Blue-gray Gnatcatchers all around us singing, chatting, scolding and basically being cute, but soon our attention was diverted by the song of a Red-eyed Vireo. Matty used the bird's non-stop singing to hone in on its location and then watched for movement. He seemed to have a sixth sense for Red-eyes today, logging four sightings by the end of the walk. We also saw a Black and White Warbler, a Prothonotary Warbler, a Black-throated Green Warbler (another of Matty's finds found through his "bird" sense), a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Hummingbird, and two Northern Rough-winged Swallows (Life Birds for us), plus all the usual woodland suspects, including a Pileated Woodpecker...and three deer!

The two lone Northern Rough-winged Swallows 

were playing just beyond Matty. They chased each 

other and were feeding low over the water, much 

too fast and small to be photographed.

As we watched the swallows, two Canada Geese came honking in, flying wing to wing down the corridor and seeming to announce to all the woodland creatures that, "We have arrived, so please, everyone, look at us. We are here, and we are loud. Yes, we are important. Again, we say, look at us!" It was fun to watch them fly past us at eye level, honking and so close that we could almost feel the breeze from their wings as they flapped past.

"Mabel" and "Floyd" on the wing continued 

to honk all the way up the river...

Matty spotted the second Red-eye from the river bank shortly after the clatter and ruckus of the geese faded away, so we climbed up the hill to get closer and actually got a fairly decent shot.

Look at that lovely red eye...

...and it's red on the other side too!

...yes, you are a gorgeous bird with a very pretty song!

We were starting to get hungry, so we headed for home. As we walked along, we heard the unmistakeable crunch, crunch, crunch of leaves and sticks underfoot and started looking for deer. There were three, and they didn't seem to mind us, so we stayed and watched for a while until they decided to move on.

See you later little deer!