Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, St Pierre and Miquelon (B) (P), Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B).
Vagrant to Jamaica.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 7,000,000 (2010).
Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) [XC375277]
by Robin Carter from Hotel Zabalanquira , Departamento de Intibuc\u00e1, United States (song, scolding)
Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) [XC501257]
by Caio Brito from , United States (song)
Subspecies
Probably forms a superspecies with Plumbeous Vireo (Vireo plumbeus) and Cassin's Vireo (Vireo cassinii) and the three were formerly treated as conspecific, but molecular-genetic studies indicate that they merit treatment as separate species. Breeding range in south-western Canada overlaps slightly with that of Cassin's Vireo (Vireo cassinii), and some interbreeding may occur. However, cytochrome b sequence studies indicate as much divergence between the two as between present species and closely related Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons), with which it has likewise hybridized. Specimens of hybrids, from non-breeding range in southern Mexico and Guatemala, were formerly classified as a full species under name "Vireo propinquus".
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
solitarius (Wilson, 1810) - Breeds from Canada (south-western Northwest Territories and western Alberta east to south-western Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) southern in eastern USA to northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; migrates to southern USA (central Texas east to central-northern Carolina, south to central Florida), eastern Mexico and southern mainly to northern Nicaragua, rarely western Cuba and I of Pines.
alticola Brewster, 1886 - Breeds southern Appalachians from north-eastern West Virginia and western Maryland south to northern Georgia, casually elsewhere east of mountains; migrates to south-eastern USA (south-eastern Louisiana east to southern South Carolina, south to southern Florida).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet