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Veery - Catharus fuscescens
Species of Concern Native Species Global Rank :
G5
State Rank :
S3B
Agency Status USFWS :
MBTA
USFS :
BLM :
SENSITIVE
FWP SWAP :
SGCN3
PIF :
2
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Copyright by: The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, all rights reserved.
General Description
The Veery is an 18-cm-long bird with a reddish brown dorsum, white belly, gray flanks, grayish face, small spots (often indistinct) on the breast, indistinct grayish eyering, and straight slim bill. Western populations have a darker dorsum and more breast spotting than do eastern populations.
For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see
Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana. Diagnostic Characteristics
Veerys differ from other thrushes by having less breast spotting (less distinct and more restricted). They differ from Pacific coast populations of Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus ) in having gray, instead of buffy brown, flanks.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions Western Hemisphere Range
Range Comments
Veerys breed from southern British Columbia east across southern Canada to Newfoundland, south to Oregon, Colorado, portions of the Midwest, and throughout New England south along the southern Appalachian Mountains to Georgia. They breed in appropriate habitat throughout Montana. They winter in northern South America.
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 3069
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
SUMMER (Feb 16 - Dec 14)
Direct Evidence of Breeding
Indirect Evidence of Breeding
No Evidence of Breeding
WINTER (Dec 15 - Feb 15)
Regularly Observed
Not Regularly Observed
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Migration
Summer Resident. Earliest reported arrival date for Montana is 28 April at the north end of the Tobacco Root Mountains in Madison County, latest departure date is 13 September at Westby, Sheridan County (Montana Bird Distribution Committee 2012). In the Bozeman area, normal migration periods are from 22 May to 1 June and 25 August to 3 September (Skaar 1969). At Fortine, mean date of arrival is 31 May, earliest annual arrivals ranging from 26 May to 2 June (Weydemeyer 1973). At Missoula, average arrival is 23 May and departure is 30 August, with extreme dates of 18 May and 8 September (Hand 1969).
Habitat
Generally inhabits damp, deciduous forests in the east. Has a strong preference for riparian habitats in several regions, including the Great Plains. Prefers disturbed forest, probably because denser understory is not found in undisturbed forests (Moskoff 1995). In Montana, Veerys are often associated with willow thickets and cottonwood along streams and lakes in valleys and lower mountain canyons (Saunders 1921, Hand 1969, Skaar 1969), icluding the Flathead and Lewistown regions (Silloway 1901, 1903a). It also occupies riparian cottonwood stands along the lower Missouri River (Kroodsma 1973). Along Beaver Creek in the Bears Paw Mountains, Veerys were present in a variety of plant community types (box elder, alder, aspen, cottonwood, and lodgepole pine) so long as willow was a significant component (Walcheck 1969).
Ecological Systems Associated with this Species
Details on Creation and Suggested Uses and Limitations
How Associations Were Made
We associated the use and habitat quality (common or occasional) of each of the 82 ecological systems mapped in Montana for
vertebrate animal species that regularly breed, overwinter, or migrate through the state by:
Using personal observations and reviewing literature that summarize the breeding, overwintering, or migratory habitat requirements of each species (Dobkin 1992, Hart et al. 1998, Hutto and Young 1999, Maxell 2000, Foresman 2012, Adams 2003, and Werner et al. 2004);
Evaluating structural characteristics and distribution of each ecological system relative to the species' range and habitat requirements;
Examining the observation records for each species in the state-wide point observation database associated with each ecological system;
Calculating the percentage of observations associated with each ecological system relative to the percent of Montana covered by each ecological system to get a measure of "observations versus availability of habitat".
Species that breed in Montana were only evaluated for breeding habitat use, species that only overwinter in Montana were only evaluated for overwintering habitat use, and species that only migrate through Montana were only evaluated for migratory habitat use.
In general, species were listed as associated with an ecological system if structural characteristics of used habitat documented in the literature were present in the ecological system or large numbers of point observations were associated with the ecological system.
However, species were not listed as associated with an ecological system if there was no support in the literature for use of structural characteristics in an ecological system,
even if point observations were associated with that system.
Common versus occasional association with an ecological system was assigned based on the degree to which the structural characteristics of an ecological system matched the preferred structural habitat characteristics for each species as represented in scientific literature.
The percentage of observations associated with each ecological system relative to the percent of Montana covered by each ecological system was also used to guide assignment of common versus occasional association.
If you have any questions or comments on species associations with ecological systems, please contact the Montana Natural Heritage Program's Senior Zoologist.
Suggested Uses and Limitations
Species associations with ecological systems should be used to generate potential lists of species that may occupy broader landscapes for the purposes of landscape-level planning.
These potential lists of species should not be used in place of documented occurrences of species (this information can be requested at:
mtnhp.org/requests ) or systematic surveys for species and evaluations of habitat at a local site level by trained biologists.
Users of this information should be aware that the land cover data used to generate species associations is based on imagery from the late 1990s and early 2000s and was only intended to be used at broader landscape scales.
Land cover mapping accuracy is particularly problematic when the systems occur as small patches or where the land cover types have been altered over the past decade.
Thus, particular caution should be used when using the associations in assessments of smaller areas (e.g., evaluations of public land survey sections).
Finally, although a species may be associated with a particular ecological system within its known geographic range, portions of that ecological system may occur outside of the species' known geographic range.
Literature Cited
Adams, R.A. 2003. Bats of the Rocky Mountain West; natural history, ecology, and conservation. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. 289 p.
Dobkin, D. S. 1992. Neotropical migrant land birds in the Northern Rockies and Great Plains. USDA Forest Service, Northern Region. Publication No. R1-93-34. Missoula, MT.
Foresman, K.R. 2012. Mammals of Montana. Second edition. Mountain Press Publishing, Missoula, Montana. 429 pp.
Hart, M.M., W.A. Williams, P.C. Thornton, K.P. McLaughlin, C.M. Tobalske, B.A. Maxell, D.P. Hendricks, C.R. Peterson, and R.L. Redmond. 1998. Montana atlas of terrestrial vertebrates. Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Montana, Missoula, MT. 1302 p.
Hutto, R.L. and J.S. Young. 1999. Habitat relationships of landbirds in the Northern Region, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station RMRS-GTR-32. 72 p.
Maxell, B.A. 2000. Management of Montana's amphibians: a review of factors that may present a risk to population viability and accounts on the identification, distribution, taxonomy, habitat use, natural history, and the status and conservation of individual species. Report to U.S. Forest Service Region 1. Missoula, MT: Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana. 161 p.
Werner, J.K., B.A. Maxell, P. Hendricks, and D. Flath. 2004. Amphibians and reptiles of Montana. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company. 262 p.
Commonly Associated with these Ecological SystemsForest and Woodland Systems
Wetland and Riparian Systems
Occasionally Associated with these Ecological SystemsForest and Woodland Systems
Food Habits
The Veery is primarily a ground forager, with a diet including insects (60%) and fruit (40%), feeding primarily on insects during breeding and on fruit during late summer and fall (Maskoff 1995).
Ecology
A significant host for the Brown-headed Cowbird in many parts of the range of overlap, which is exacerbated as forests are increasingly fragmented. Cowbirds parasitized 40% of 10 nests monitored in riparian habitat of the Bitterroot Valley (Tewskbury et al. 1998). Breeding density in dogwood and alder along Elk Creek at Lubrecht Experimental Forest (near Missoula) was estimated to be 43.2 pairs/40 ha (Manuwal 1968). Classified overall as uncommon along the lower Missouri River, where it was observed in eight of 21 riparian cottonwood stands (Kroodsma 1973). BBS data indicate significant annual declines in numbers of 4.6% in Montana and 0.9% survey-wide from 1966-2009; there were also significant annual declines in numbers of 1.2% in Montana and 0.3% survey-wide for 1999-2009.
Reproductive Characteristics
Nests are typically on or near the ground, often near the base of a bush or small tree in streamside thickets or swamps. Clutch size is 1 to 5 blue/green subelliptical to short subelliptical eggs (Moskoff 1995). One nest along the Swan River near Big Fork was built about 2 m (6.5 ft) above ground in a hawthorne shrub, another near Big Spring in the Lewistown area was 36 cm (14 in.) above ground at the rim in a willow shrub (Silloway 1901, 1903a). Nests in Montana have been reported with eggs 8 to 29 June, adults tending nestlings 29 June and 1 July (Silloway 1901, 1903a, 1903b, Saunders 1921, Skaar 1969, Montana Bird Distribution Committee 2012)
Management
No management activities specific to Veery are currently occuring in Montana. Veerys are a fairly common cowbird host. Numbers may be significantly reduced in grazed areas and campgrounds compared to relatively undisturbed sites (Saab 1996). However, it may favor disturbed forests where the understory shrub layer is denser than in undisturbed sites. Heavy grazing apears to be more deleterious than light grazing (Mosconi and Hutto 1982).
Threats or Limiting Factors
Preference for large riparian stands and susceptibility to cowbird parasitism make it vulnerable to landscape changes and disturbances (Casey 2000).
References
Literature Cited AboveLegend:
Additional ReferencesLegend: Do you know of a citation we're missing? Effects of recreation on Rocky Mountain wildlife: a review for Montana . [Montana]: Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
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