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.

Breeding and Nesting

Audubon's Oriole: Three to five brown- or purple-speckled, black-scrawled, pale blue or gray eggs are laid in a woven nest made of fresh grass; nest hangs attached by top and side from small vertical terminal branch, 6 to 14 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Audubon's Oriole: Eats insects and some fruits; frequently forages on the ground.

Readily Eats

Suet, Jelly, Orange Halves, Raisins

Vocalization

Audubon's Oriole: Song is a soft series of three-note warbles "peut-pou-it," each note a different pitch, with the second note highest. Call is a nasal "yehnk, yehnk," often repeated.

Similar Species

Audubon's Oriole: Scott's Oriole has black, not yellow, back. Other U.S. orioles do not have a black hood.