- Icterus prosthemelas
Identification
- Relatively small, slender bill with decurved culmen
- About half of the lower mandible shows lighter coloring
Male:
- Black
- Yellow shoulders mostly covered by scapulars
- Yellow rump, undertail, abdomen, belly and lower breast
Female & Immature resemble several oriole species and are quite variable
Southern-most birds can be similar to males, but otherwise they have the crown and upper mantle yellowish olive with more or less black feathers intermixed.
Juveniles are pale versions of the females, even having paler wings.
Distribution
Southeast Mexico from Puebla, Veracruz, and northern Oaxaca to West Panama, mostly on the Atlantic slope.
Taxonomy
The Black-cowled Oriole is divided into two subspecies, nominate and praecox. It was previously considered part of a more widespread species that included the birds now known as Greater Antillean Oriole. The combined species carried the names of Black-cowled Oriole which now is used for this part, and Icterus dominicensis which now is the scientific name for Greater Antillean Oriole.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies[1]:
- I. p. prosthemelas:
- I. p. praecox:
- Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and adjacent western Panama
Habitat
Moist lowland forests.
Behaviour
Vocalisation
Song: A fairly quiet, rich, scratchy warble.
Call: A chuttering scold chuh-chuh...or cheh-cheh-cheh-chek, and varied nasal calls, cheh or chek, and a sharper beehk or bihk, etc., also a quiet tee-u.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-cowled Oriole. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-cowled_Oriole
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
