ORIOLES

Bullock’s Oriole

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Icterus bullockii

The Bullock's Oriole is a small New World blackbird. At one time, this species and the Baltimore Oriole were considered to be a single species, the Northern Oriole.

Breeding plumage:
Males have a black crown, nape and back. Lower back, uppertail-coverts and underparts are yellow-orange, except for a narrow black stripe from chin to upper breast.
The upperwing is black but the median and greater coverts are white, forming a conspicuous wingbar. The black flight-feathers show broad, white edges. The tail is black, but the outer rectrices are yellow-orange with black tips.

Non-breeding plumage:
Males' head and back feathers are narrowly tipped grayish and the underpart’s feathers have whitish tips. The white edges of the wing feathers are broader.
The pointed bill is bluish-gray with black culmen. The eyes are dark brown. Lores are black and a black eyeline extending to the ear-coverts. Legs and feet are bluish-gray.

Females are much duller, with pale orange-yellow face, supercilium, throat and breast. The underparts are whitish-gray. Back and wings are greyer and paler, and the conspicuous white wingbar is absent, but have two faint white wingbars. The tail is orange-olivaceous. Some females may have a black throat stripe.

Juvenile resemble females but have duller and reduced yellow on face and throat. The wingbars are less extensive and the upperparts may be washed saffron to buff. They obtain the adult plumage through intermediate stages.

Both sexes are about 6.7 - 7.5 inches long with a wingspan of 12.2 inches and a weight of 29 - 43 grams.

CALL: A short rattle “chu-r-r-r-r-r”, also a single, sweet note “pheew” and a soft “chuch”.

SONG: A clear and flute-like sound, ending in a sweet whistled note “kip, kit-tick, kit-tick,whew,wheet”.

Feeds on insects, berries and nectar. Their diet in summer includes mainly caterpillars and insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, wasps, bugs and also spiders. Berries, wild and cultivated fruits are taken too, as well as nectar and sugar-water at hummingbird’s feeders.

Open woodland along streams, particularly among cottonwoods. They also occur in orchards, parks, and oak or mesquite woodlands.

Breeds from Southern British Columbia, Southern Alberta and Southwestern Saskatchewan in Canada, Southern into Texas and into Mexico, Western through Northern Durango, Sonora and into Northern Baja California. The coastal regions are the western limits of the range. This species winters mainly in Mexico Southern to Western Guatemala where it is rare.

The nest is gourd-shaped and neatly woven from fibers such as hair, twine, grasses, or wool. It's lined with soft materials such as feathers or the "cotton" from cottonwoods or willows.
The female lays 4 - 5 pale bluish or pale gray eggs with dark markings on the larger end. She incubates alone during 12 - 14 days.

SOURCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com