Audubon's Oriole

Icterus graduacaudaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Blackbirds and Orioles (Icteridae)

Codes: Common Name: AUOR Scientific Name: ICTGRA ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179065

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Audubon's Oriole: Large oriole with yellow-green upperparts, black hood extending onto upper breast, and lemon-yellow underparts. Wings are black with a single white bar and white-edged feathers. Tail is all black. Swift and direct flight with rapid wing beats low under the canopy.

Range and Habitat

Audubon's Oriole: Occurs in the Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas. From southern Texas, range extends south along the Gulf of Mexico through the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Queretaro. Preferred habitats include riparian thickets, scrub, forest undergrowth, and semiarid pine-oak woodlands.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"peut-pou-it"

Interesting Facts

The Audubon's Oriole is the only yellow oriole to have a black hood and a yellow back.

It was formerly known as the Black-headed Oriole, but this name was changed in 1983 to avoid confusion with an Old World group of species in the genus Oriolus, the true orioles.

It is a favored host of the nest-parasitic Bronzed Cowbird. In Texas, more than half of all nests have cowbird eggs in them.

A group of orioles are collectively known as a "pitch" and a "split" of orioles.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Samira Belous

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Audubon's Oriole

● Song: "peut-pou-it"

● Foraging & Feeding: Audubon's Oriole: Eats insects and some fruits; frequently forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Audubon's Oriole: Three to five brown- or purple-speckled, black-scrawled, pale blue or gray eggs are laid in a woven nest made of fresh grass; nest hangs attached by top and side from small vertical terminal branch, 6 to 14 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Audubon's Oriole: Scott's Oriole has black, not yellow, back. Other U.S. orioles do not have a black hood.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

Audubon's Oriole Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Audubon's Oriole: Occurs in the Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas. From southern Texas, range extends south along the Gulf of Mexico through the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Queretaro. Preferred habitats include riparian thickets, scrub, forest undergrowth, and semiarid pine-oak woodlands.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationUncommon and local

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight0.8 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Riparian

Relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Audubon's Oriole

Related Birds

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Range and Habitat

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

Interesting Facts

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Artist

Audubon's Oriole

Flight Pattern