- Icterus graduacauda
Identification
19cm.
- Black head, wings and tail
- White edges to wing feathers
- Yellow back, rump, breast, belly and shoulder
- Pointed bill
Distribution
Found in the extreme tip of southeastern Texas and along the eastern Mexican coast south to Guatemala. Accidental vagrant to Puerto Rico.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
This is a polytypic species consisting of four subspecies[1]:
- I. g. graduacauda:(richardsoni)
- Southern portion of Mexican Plateau
- I. g. audubonii:
- I. g. nayaritensis:
- West-central Mexico (southern Nayarit to western Jalisco, northern Colima and southern Michoacán)
- I. g. dickeyae:
- Mountains of south-western Mexico (Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero)
Habitat
Mesquite and riparian woodlands. Thorn scrub thicket
Behaviour
Breeding
Long green grasses are woven into a cup shaped nest, attached at the top to leafy twigs near the trunk. Three to five eggs are laid and are incubated by the female. The young fledge 11 days after hatching. Sometimes there are two broods.
The nests are often parasitized by the Bronzed Cowbird.
Diet
The diet consists mostly of fruit and insects.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- USGS
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Audubon's Oriole. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Audubon%27s_Oriole
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
