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Revision as of 00:41, 30 September 2007

Icterus cucullatus

Photo by Marysan: adult male at Mission Trails Regional Park, San Diego, CA

Identification

Hooded Oriole Breeding Adult: Medium-sized, showy oriole with bright orange -yellow head and nape, and black back, face, throat, and upper breast. Bill is slightly decurved. Black wings have two white bars. Tail is black. Female has olive-gray upperparts and yellow-green underparts. Juvenile is similar to female; male may show black on throat. Hooded Orioles are sexually dimorphic. The male has an orange-yellow coloring with a black face, tail, wings and back. The wings on the bird will have two white bars of feathers. While the female has the same two white bars on her wings, her coloring is an olive-green with a yellowish shade underneath. Both male and female are the same in size, ranging from 112-128 cm (7-8 in.) long. The bill of the Hooded Oriole has a slight down curve that comes to a sharp point, enabling them to feed off tubular flowers

Distribution

Hooded Oriole Breeding Adult: Breeds from central California, Nevada, central Arizona, southern New Mexico, and southern Texas southward through Mexico to Belize. A few spend winters in southern California and southern Texas.

Taxonomy

Currently, seven subspecies (cucullatus, restrictus, nelsoni, sennetti, californicus, trochiloides, and igneus) are recognized, with several others considered synonyms.

Habitat

Found in deciduous and riparian woodlands and human habitations, often near ranches or towns.

Behaviour

The Hooded Oriole is a social species. They tend to flock with related birds such as the Bullocks Oriole. Hooded Orioles move around, mostly up and down the southwest coast, while migrating to Mexico in the wintertime.

Jays, ravens and crows prey upon eggs and young nestling Orioles. Adult birds are occasionally preyed upon by various raptor species. Their nests in California become parasitized by both the Bronzed Cowbird and Brown-headed cowbird. The Hooded Oriole's diet consists mostly of fruit, nectar, and insects. This bird will forage in shrubs and trees to find the insects and fruit. The nectar can be extracted from such plants as agaves, aloes, hibiscus, lilies, and other tubular flowers. That is where their pointed bill becomes useful: it will pierce the base of the flower to obtain the nectar. By doing this it will not pollinate the flower.

Breeding season for this Oriole starts from early April to early May. The male will flutter around the female singing soft melodies with his bill open and pointing upward; the female will respond to the male in the same manner.

The nests can be found in a tall tree, preferably in a fan palm. Other trees regularly used for nesting include cottonwoods, sycamores, live oaks, and eucalyptus. The nest is built 2 - 15 meters (6-45 feet) above ground to protect against any unwanted predators. These nests are penduline (hang from branches )and the nesting chamber is cup shaped about 10 cm (4 inches) in depth and about the same in width. They are suspended by twigs and woven with string, dry vegitation, and any other fiberous materials that can be found. The female is the main builder of these nests; it takes her 3-5 days to complete it.

Typically 3-5 eggs are laid in the nest. The incubation period for those eggs is about 12-14 days, and they incubated only by the female. Their eggs are white, pale yellow or pale blue. They are lightly spotted with a grayish brown coloring. The hatching of the eggs usually takes place mid to late summer. The young are tended to by both parents and will leave the nest about 14 days after being hatched.

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