From Opus

Icterus spurius

Photo by steve messick

[edit] Identification

9-10 in. Chestnut underneath, black head, back, tail, and wings, thin straight bill. Females and immatures are olive-green above with two white wing-bars and yellowish underparts; immature males have a dark throat.

[edit] Distribution

Eastern United States from eastern Montana and eastern New Mexico east and north to southern Michigan, central New York, and Massachusetts south into central Mexico; absent from southern Florida. Winters in Central America south to Colombia and Venezuela. Rare to casual vagrant in western United States.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.

[edit] Habitat

Trees along streams, rivers and lakes, and on farms and parklands.

[edit] Behaviour

The diet includes insects, berries and nectar; also flower parts.

They build a deep, hanging cup nest, although woven of grass fibres, hidden within dense foliage, often in a dense cluster of trees. The young leave the nest 11 to 14 days after hatching.

[edit] External Links