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Blue-headed vireo        Images © Mark A. Chappell

Blue-headed vireos are the eastern component of the 'solitary' vireo complex:   formerly considered a single species but now split into the plumbeous, Cassin's, and blue-headed vireo.   I photographed one of these birds at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, Florida.   The other was in Riverside, California, presumably an off-course migrant.   There was some debate among local birders over whether the bird was Cassin's or blue-headed but most favored the latter ID.

  • Canon 1D Mk. II or 1D4; 500 mm IS lens and 2X converter or 800 mm IS lens and 1.4X converter, fill-in flash (2006, 2014)