Red-eyed Vireo

September 13, 2026. Hendrie Valley Burlington ON.  Two or three times this past week I’ve caught a glimpse of a Swainsons Thrush.  It’s only ever a glimpse, a secret, barely long enough to look for its identifying marks: eye ring, buff facial detail and a modest sprinkling of spots. Long enough for it to hasten from sight.

But that’s not what was on my mind today.  This was an oppressively humid day for mid-September, and the birding pickings were slim. We managed to squeeze out a handful of nice sightings: a couple of Magnolia Warblers, a bickering pair of Blue–gray Gnatcatchers, some young Rose–breasted Grosbeaks and a very secretive Swainson’s Thrush or two.

My Bird of the Day however was this splendid Red-eyed Vireo. A quick-fire photo taken as we made our way upstream following the small river.  It was just there peering down at us.

Maybe splendid is overdoing the adjectives a touch, but faithful followers will have read of my soft spot for vireos.  I have a particular place in my heart for the Red-eyed, Yellow-throated, and Blue-headed (primary-colours) Vireos. Even those three, they’re not particularly showy but lie somewhere in a vague realm between smart and handsome.  They work the middle and upper levels of forests and woody margins, looking for food, moving deliberately from branch to branch while singing a casual two or three phrase song. With a little hooked tip to their bill, they have a sort of tenacious here-I-am-take-it-or-leave-it air, rather like the left-out kid who nevertheless goes on to great fortune.

Goodness knows I’ve taken and deleted enough photos of birds.  Today’s two photos of the same bird catch a creature; simple. Perfectly formed, and informed, to make its way on a spontaneous diet, following internal guidance that may, or may not, take it to Amazonia by time of the winter solstice and may just as perilously bring it back, or just as easily make it food for another.