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All About Orchard Orioles

by Susan Nelson Hopkins

The Orchard oriole, Icterus spurius, is the smallest species of icterid blackbird. You may even think you see a blackbird when actually you're looking at an adult male orchard oriole. Until you see him up close or through binoculars, his deep chestnut coloring appears black.

The Orchard Oriole is an important pollinator...

This smallest of North American orioles eats pollen and nectar from flowers.

In fact, it plays a major role during its winter stays in southern Mexico, Central America, northern Colombia, and northwestern Venezuela.

The orchard oriole is an essential pollinator for many tropical tree species, carrying pollen from flower to flower on its head.

You might be able to attract it to your backyard if you have flowering trees and shrubs... but especially if you also put chunks of fruit on a platform feeder. Oriole feeders will also attract them.

Check out the FREE oriole nectar recipe formula... ready for printing. You will also find some sources for related items.

Have a look at the articles in the Care of Wild Birds section. You will find tips and resources for feeding wild birds, caring for baby birds... even how to prevent wild birds from crashing into windows.

Though the female does have orange coloring, the male orchard oriole is a deep brick-chestnut orange.

The male Orchard oriole...

• He has a black head, back, breast, wings, and tail.
• His shoulders, rump, and under-parts are a deep brick red.
• He also has a single thing, white wingbar, and other wing feathers are edged in white.

The female Orchard oriole...

• She has olive-green upperparts
• Her under-parts are bright greenish-yellow
• Her wings are brownish, with two narrow white wingbars.

The immature male Orchard oriole...

• The juvenile male has a similar bright greenish-yellow under-parts as an adult female.
• Additionally, he also has a black throat patch.
• Some juvenile males may also have some chestnut feathers on their under-parts.
• He will  start looking like an adult male during his second fall.

The immature female Orchard oriole...

• The juvenile female is similar to an adult female, only  paler.

Migratory ranges of the Orchard oriole...

Orchard oriole nests, eggs, and hatchlings...

Breeding pairs usually locate their nest in deciduous trees, near water. In some parts of their range, they may nest in small colonies. One tree may contain several nests.

An Orchard oriole's nest is suspended from a branch fork far out on a horizontal branch. The breeding pair both share in creating a cup-shaped pouch woven with grass, and then lined with finer grass, feathers, wool, and plant down.

The female usually lays a clutch of 3 to 7 light blue eggs with blackish markings. She tends the eggs during the 12 day incubation period. The babies have tufts of pale gray down, and are quite helpless. Both parents feed the chicks from hatching through fledging - about 11 to 14 more days. They even continue to feed the fledglings for a few more days.

Because they migrate north in the late spring and return south as early as July, Orchard orioles usually only have a single brood.

Acknowledgements:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/

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