General

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. Female is similar but duller. Juvenile resembles female but has olive tail, gray-brown wings and lacks the dark hood.

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.

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.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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