Art Lander’s Outdoors: The Baltimore Oriole is an uncommon breeding bird with striking plumage

The Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) is a summer resident most common in north central Kentucky and some counties along the lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

From 1973 to 1995 the species and the Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii) were classified as a single species, the Northern Oriole, because of observations of interbreeding where their ranges overlapped in the Great Plains. The Bullock’s Oriole is a species found predominately west of the Mississippi River. But researchers determined that the interbreeding was not significant enough to combine the two species into one.

A member of Family Icteridae, the Baltimore Oriole was described in the scientific literature in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, and is one of about 100 species in the family.

Its breeding range in the eastern half of the Lower 48 states extends from northern Texas, northward to the Dakotas, eastward to Maine, down the Atlantic Coast to Virginia, west through Tennessee into northern Mississippi and northern Louisiana.

Size and coloration

A medium-sized bird, on average about 6.7 to 8.7 inches in length, the Baltimore Oriole has a wingspan of 9.1 to 12.6 inches.

They have a sturdy body, a longish tail and legs, and a thick, pointed bill.

Their body weight ranges from 0.79 to 1.48 ounces, and males are slightly larger than the females.

Its common name is based on the resemblance of the male’s colors to those on the coat-of-arms of 17th-century Lord Baltimore, an English politician and lawyer who was the first proprietor of Maryland.

The adult male is orange on the underparts, shoulder patch, and rump, with some birds having a very deep flaming orange and others appearing yellowish orange. Its head, throat, wings and tail feathers are black.

The adult female is yellow brown on the upper parts with darker wings, and dull orange yellow on the breast and belly.

Adult male and females have white bars on their wings.

Their calls are clear and flute-like whistled single or double notes in short, distinct phrases with much individual variation, also a buzz, and chatter, by immature birds.

Habitat

In Kentucky, the Baltimore Oriole lives in semi-open to open habitats with a scattering of large trees, avoiding closed-canopy forests. This species is most conspicuous along the rural/suburban interface and in rural areas around farmsteads, pastures, and open riparian corridors along larger rivers. Sycamores are a favorite tree for nesting.

Feeding behavior and diet

The Baltimore Oriole forages by searching for insects among foliage of trees and shrubs, sometimes flying out to catch insects in midair.

In summer they feed on caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, spiders and snails.

They also consume berries, nectar and cultivated fruit. They visit flowers for nectar, will come to sugar-water feeders, and pieces of fruit put out at feeders.

Courtship and nesting

According to The Kentucky Breeding Bird Atlas Baltimore Orioles return to the state during the last two weeks in April.

They winter in the tropics, including Florida, Caribbean islands, parts of Mexico, and Central America into northern South America.

The male sings to defend their nesting territory.

In courtship, the male faces the female and stretches upright, then bows deeply with tail spread and wings partly open.

Nests are 25 to 40 feet off the ground, far out near the tip of a higher branch.

The nest, built by the female, sometimes with help from her mate, is a hanging pouch, with its rim firmly attached to a branch, a tight mixture of plant fibers, strips of bark, and grapevines, woven together with grass, yarn, string or fishing line. It is lined with fine grass, plant down, and hair.

The female lays about four to five bluish white to pale gray eggs, with brown and black markings concentrated at larger end.

Incubation by female lasts for about 12 to 14 days. Both parents feed the nestlings. In Kentucky, most clutches are completed by mid-May.

The young leave the nest about 12 to 14 days after hatching, and feed in the area around their nest for a few weeks.

Baltimore Orioles depart Kentucky rather early for their wintering grounds, in August, and the birds are absent throughout the state by September.

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