Roadless Areas
Home/Species/ Orchard Oriole

Icterus spurius

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Orchard Oriole

G5Secure Found in 13 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104372
Element CodeABPBXB9070
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyIcteridae
GenusIcterus
Other Common Names
Bolsero Castaño (ES) Oriole des vergers (FR)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Composed of two groups which are sometimes regarded as separate species: spurius (Orchard Oriole) and fuertesi (Ochre or Fuertes's Oriole) (AOU 1983, 1998). Probably a sister taxon to I. cucullatus (AOU 1998).
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-08
Change Date1996-12-04
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent Comments
BREEDING: southeastern Saskatchewan, southern Great Lakes region, and southern New England south to central Mexico, southern Texas, Gulf Coast, and central Florida, west to Colorado and southeastern New Mexico. NON-BREEDING: central Mexico to northern and western Colombia and northwestern Venezuela (small numbers in South America).
Threat Impact Comments
A common host for the brown-headed cowbird.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Farms, suburbs, shade trees along roads, orchards, open woodlands, scattered trees in cultivated areas, riparian woods in prairie regions; also scrub, second growth, brushy hillsides (AOU 1983). Nest usually suspended at end of branch of tree or shrub, concealed among leaves, commonly 3-6 m above ground.

Ecology

NON-BREEDING: roosts gregariously, sometimes with northern oriole (Stiles and Skutch 1989), or solitary (Ehrlich et al. 1992).

Reproduction

Clutch size: 3-7 (usually 4-5). Incubation: 12-15 days, by female. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at 11-14 days. Sometimes nests in loose colonies (114 nests on 3 ha in Louisiana).
Terrestrial Habitats
Woodland - HardwoodShrubland/chaparralSavannaCropland/hedgerowSuburban/orchard
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (2)
CanadaN5B
ProvinceRankNative
SaskatchewanS4BYes
ManitobaS4BYes
OntarioS4BYes
QuebecS3BYes
United StatesN5B
ProvinceRankNative
MichiganS4Yes
ColoradoS4BYes
KentuckyS5BYes
GeorgiaS5Yes
New MexicoS3B,S5NYes
TexasS4BYes
MarylandS5BYes
West VirginiaS4BYes
OklahomaSNRBYes
District of ColumbiaS1B,S3NYes
South DakotaS5BYes
ArkansasS4BYes
Rhode IslandS2BYes
MontanaS4BYes
IllinoisS5Yes
NebraskaS5Yes
TennesseeS4Yes
KansasS5BYes
VirginiaS4Yes
MississippiS5B,S5NYes
MissouriSNRBYes
IowaS4B,S4NYes
MassachusettsS3BYes
LouisianaS5BYes
PennsylvaniaS5BYes
North CarolinaS5BYes
MinnesotaSNRBYes
New JerseyS4B,S4NYes
AlabamaS5BYes
North DakotaSNRBYes
MaineS1BYes
IndianaS3BYes
New HampshireS2BYes
VermontS2BYes
OhioS5Yes
ConnecticutS5BYes
WisconsinS3BYes
DelawareS4BYes
New YorkS4BYes
WyomingS4BYes
South CarolinaS4BYes
FloridaSNRBYes
Roadless Areas (13)
Arkansas (2)
AreaForestAcres
Little BlakelyOuachita National Forest3,342
Pedestal RocksOzark-St. Francis National Forest21,957
North Carolina (1)
AreaForestAcres
Overflow CreekNantahala National Forest3,379
North Dakota (1)
AreaForestAcres
Long X DivideDakota Prairie Grasslands10,099
South Dakota (4)
AreaForestAcres
Cheyenne RiverBuffalo Gap National Grassland7,572
First Black CanyonBuffalo Gap National Grassland4,965
Jim Wilson CanyonBuffalo Gap National Grassland6,024
Red ShirtBuffalo Gap National Grassland17,007
Virginia (5)
AreaForestAcres
Bear CreekJefferson National Forest18,274
Brush MountainJefferson National Forest6,002
Oak KnobGeorge Washington National Forest10,882
Raccoon BranchJefferson National Forest4,388
Seng MountainJefferson National Forest6,428
References (31)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. Balda, R. P., and G. C. Bateman. 1971. Flocking and annual cycle of the piñon jay, <i>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</i>. Condor 73:287-302.
  4. Bent, A.C. 1958. Life histories of North American blackbirds, orioles, tanagers, and their allies. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 211. Washington, DC.
  5. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  6. Carter, M., G. Fenwick, C. Hunter, D. Pashley, D. Petit, J. Price, and J. Trapp. 1996. Watchlist 1996: For the future. Field Notes 50(3):238-240.
  7. Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1992. Birds in Jeopardy: the Imperiled and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada, Including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. 259 pp.
  8. Hagan, J. M., III, and D. W. Johnston, editors. 1992. Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xiii + 609 pp.
  9. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  10. Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
  11. Hilty, S.L. and W. L. Brown. 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA. 836 pp.
  12. Horn, H. S. 1968. The adaptive significance of colonial nesting in the Brewer's Blackbird. Ecology 49:682-694.
  13. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  14. Ligon, J. D. 1971. Late summer-autumnal breeding of the piñon jay in New Mexico. Condor 73:147-153.
  15. Moore, W. S., and R. A. Dolbeer. 1989. The use of banding recovery data to estimate dispersal rates and gene flow in avian species: case studies in the Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackle. Condor 91:242-253.
  16. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  17. Poole, A. F. and F. B. Gill. 1992. The birds of North America. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. and The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.
  18. Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 511 pp.
  19. Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
  20. Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp.
  21. Ridgely, R. S. and J. A. Gwynne, Jr. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
  22. Sauer, J.R., and S. Droege. 1992. Geographical patterns in population trends of Neotropical migrants in North America. Pages 26-42 in J.M. Hagan, III, and D.W. Johnston, editors. Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
  23. Sealy, S. G. and T. J. Underwood. 2004. Accepters and rejecters of cowbird parasitism in the New World orioles (Icterus spp.). Ornitologia Neotropical 15:331-348.
  24. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  25. Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
  26. Tarvin, K. A., and G. E. Woolfenden. 1999. Blue Jay (<i>Cyanocitta cristata</i>). No. 469 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 32pp.
  27. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  28. Thompson, F. R., III. 1994. Temporal and spatial patterns of breeding brown-headed cowbirds in the midwestern United States. Auk 111:979-990.
  29. Williams, L. 1952b. Breeding behavior of the Brewer blackbird. Condor 54:3-47.
  30. Willson, M. F. 1966. Breeding ecology of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Ecological Monographs 36:51-77.
  31. Zook, J. L. 2002. Distribution maps of the birds of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Unpublished.