Description: The Arizona Bell’s vireo is one of four subspecies of Bell’s vireo. It is a small, 12 cm (4.75 in.) long neotropical migrant. Its plumage is generally drab gray to green above, white to yellow below, with a clear breast (no stripes). Bell’s vireo has a faint white eye ring and two pale wingbars, with the lower bar more prominent. Nesting season from April to July; clutch size 3 – 5 eggs; incubation 14 days; chicks fledge 12 days after hatching. Bell’s vireo nests are parasitized by brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater); in some areas parasitism may be over 50 percent.
Diet: Primarily feeds on insects and fruit.
Habitat: Inhabits desert riparian communities where it requires low, dense riparian areas along water or intermittent streams. Typical vegetation of willow (Salix sp.), cottonwood (Populus sp.), Baccharis, salt cedar (Tamarix sp.), or mesquite (Prosopis sp.). Nests in thickets of willows or other low shrubs.
Range: Bell’s vireo occurs throughout the central and southwestern United States. The Arizona subspecies occurs along the Colorado River and in riparian and mesic habitats in southern Arizona. In Clark County, Nevada, the Arizona subspecies is a locally rare and declining summer resident along the Colorado, Virgin, and Muddy rivers, as well as at isolated springs.