Baca county --- YELLOW-GREEN VIREO (6/25/2019)

[Mark Peterson]

COBirders,

First, I truly apologize for not getting this out sooner!  I basically made a mistake in the field and didn't catch it until late last night. 

Last Tuesday afternoon/evening I was at Two Buttes where birding was secondary to what I was doing.  While busy doing my thing I heard a vireo occasionally singing that I thought was a Red-eyed Vireo BUT it sounded a bit off.  It was across a pond from me so I continued doing my thing until it finally came over to the side I was.  I decided I would go check it out just in case.  The bird was not giving me great views at first, it was mostly hidden by leaves and almost always facing me directly.  However, from what I could see I thought it MIGHT be a YELLOW-GREEN VIREO (YGVI).  I worked at getting some photos and a recording, just in case.  Then it wandered back to the north.  Not having any experience with YGVI, I looked at an app to see how to tell it apart from Red-eyed.  I thought in the field that the face was too contrasting and decided it was a Red-eyed Vireo and went on about my business.

Last night right before calling it a night, I was pulling photos off of the camera and came across the vireo and immediately got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I sent a few photos off last night and this morning to see what a few others thought and the consensus is that it is a YELLOW-GREEN VIREO.

I had to work in SE CO today so after work I spent some time looking for the bird but was unable to find it.  I did find a singing RED-EYED VIREO at the far east end.  The bird may still be there and was just silent today while I was there.  It was at the west end right near the "swimming hole" aka "the black hole" the entire time I was there last Tuesday.

Again, I apologize for my mistake.  Hopefully it is still around and can be refound!

Mark Peterson

Colorado Springs