Orchard Oriole

Overview

Orchard Oriole: Small oriole, black head, back, tail, and chestnut-orange shoulder patches, underparts, rump. Wings are black with single broad white bar; flight feathers have white edges. Feeds on insects, fruits, berries, nectar and flowers. Swift direct flight on rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Orchard Oriole: Breeds from southern parts of the Canadian prairie provinces, southern Ontario, central New York, and southern New England south to northern Florida, the Gulf coast, Texas, and central Mexico. Winters in Central America and northwestern South America. Inhabits open woodlands, orchards, suburban streets and scattered groves of trees.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Orchard Oriole is the smallest North American oriole.
It is a late spring migrant, but it heads back southward quickly.
Some orioles may return to their wintering grounds as early as mid-July.
Its species name, spurious, means "illegitimate" in Latin, probably because of its resemblance to the Northern oriole in early descriptions.
A group of orchard orioles are collectively known as a "harvest" of orioles.

The Orchard Oriole has a large range reaching up to 4,800,000 square kilometers. This bird can be found in the United States, Venezuela, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands. It inhabits both subtropical and tropical forests, savannas and plantations. The global population of this bird is estimated to be around 4,300,000 individuals. Currently, it is not believed that the population trends for this species will soon approach the minimum levels that could suggest a potential decline in population. Due to this, population trends for the Orchard Oriole have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.