Chocó vireo

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Species of bird

title: "Chocó vireo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["vireo-(genus)", "birds-of-the-colombian-andes", "birds-of-el-chocó", "birds-described-in-1996", "taxa-named-by-paul-salaman", "taxonomy-articles-created-by-polbot", "fauna-of-the-northwestern-andean-montane-forests"] description: "Species of bird" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocó_vireo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of bird ::

| name = Choco vireo | image = Vireo masteri 17620880 (cropped).jpg | image_caption = Vireo masteri in Ecuador | status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = | genus = Vireo | species = masteri | authority = P.G. Salaman & F.G. Stiles, 1996 | synonyms = | range_map = Vireo masteri map.svg

The Choco vireo (Vireo masteri) is a species of bird in the family Vireonidae, the vireos, greenlets, and shrike-babblers. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.

Discovery

The Choco vireo was first observed on August 25, 1991, by Paul Salaman in southwestern Colombia's Nariño Department. The site, located at an elevation of about 1,500 m, was in a narrow strip of intact, very wet forest along the Rio Nambi. In early June 1992 ornithologist Gary Stiles observed and collected the type specimen while working further north in Alto de Pisones in Risaralda Department. Salaman and Stiles took the novel approach of auctioning off the naming rights to the vireo's scientific name in order to raise money for conservation of the bird's habitat. Bernard Master, the first American birder to have seen a representative of every bird family in the world, won the auction with a bid of US $75,000 and named it Vireo masteri. This donation was used to create the Pangan ProAves Reserve in Colombia.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Choco vireo is monotypic.

Description

The Choco vireo is about 12.5 cm long and weighs about 11 to. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have an olive crown, a yellow buff to dingy yellowish supercilium, white arcs above and below the eye, a dusky stripe from the lores through the eye, and yellow-buff ear coverts. Their nape and upperparts are olive that becomes brighter by the rump. Their wing coverts are dusky gray with wide white tips that show as two wing bars. Their primaries and secondaries are dark brown with thin yellow-green or white edges. Their central pair of rectrices are olive and the rest dark brown; the outer three pairs have pale dingy white to pale brown edges. Their throat is yellow-tinged whitish, their breast buff yellow, their belly dingy white with olive sides, and their undertail coverts straw yellow. They have a dark brown iris, a blackish maxilla, a pale dusky mandible with a paler base, and bluish gray legs and feet. Juveniles have a paler supercilium, more yellow-tinged wing bars, and paler, more creamy, underparts than adults.

Distribution and habitat

The Choco vireo is a bird of the Chocó region, which is famed for its high biological diversity. As of 2023 it was known from only four locations between Colombia's Alto de Pisiones in the north and near La Delicia, Pichincha Province, Ecuador in the south.

The Choco vireo primarily inhabits the interior and edges of primary rainforest on both level ground and on steep slopes. Its habitat is characterized by a canopy about 20 to high with gaps made by fallen trees; the trees are heavy with moss and epiphytes..

Behavior

Movement

As far as is known, the Choco vireo is a sedentary year-round resident.

Feeding

The Choco vireo's diet is not known in detail but includes both adult and larval insects. It takes most prey by gleaning from the undersides of leaves while perched and sometimes hanging upside-down. It typically feeds singly or in pairs, and usually in the forest's subcanopy and canopy though sometimes lower at edges and in treefall gaps. It often joins mixed-species feeding flocks as they pass through its territory but seldom continues beyond the territory's boundary.

Breeding

The Choco vireo is believed to breed during the dry season of June to October. Its nest has not been described and the clutch size is not known. The incubation period and time to fledging are each believed to be about 13 days.

Vocalization

The Choco vireo's typical song has about ten syllables, lasts about 2 seconds, and has a three-part structure. The species sings year-round, typically from a perch in the forest canopy.

Status

The IUCN originally in 1994 assessed the Choco vireo as Vulnerable, then in 2000 as Endangered, and since 2019 as Near Threatened. Though its overall range is about 34,500 km2 it is estimated to actually occur in only about 2350 km2 of it. Its estimated population of between 14,200 and 17,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "The range and population of Choco Vireo are in decline as a consequence of habitat destruction" by clearing for timber, agriculture, mining, and human habitation. Even some nominally protected areas are subject to illegal clearing.

Notes

References

References

  1. BirdLife International. (2019). "Choco Vireo ''Vireo masteri''".
  2. (March 2025). "Vireos, shrike-babblers".
  3. Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithologists' Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved September 29, 2025
  4. (1996). "A distinctive new species of vireo (Passeriformes: Vireonidae) from the Western Andes of Colombia". Ibis.
  5. (July 11, 2010). "Wing man".
  6. Mlodinow, S. G. (2023). Choco Vireo (''Vireo masteri''), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chovir1.02 retrieved November 29, 2025
  7. . (2007). ["Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena"](http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/tumbes_choco/Pages/biodiversity.aspx). *Conservation International*.

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vireo-(genus)birds-of-the-colombian-andesbirds-of-el-chocóbirds-described-in-1996taxa-named-by-paul-salamantaxonomy-articles-created-by-polbotfauna-of-the-northwestern-andean-montane-forests