- Icterus pustulatus
Identification
20cm. Bright orange body, black streaks on back, deep orange-red head and breast, black face, chin, black wings with two white bars, black tail with white corners. The culmen is straight. The female and immature are duller than male with yellow-orange on head.
Distribution
Mainly along the Pacific slope from sea level to 1800m. of Mexico south to Costa Rica. A rare winter visitor to Southern California and southern Arizona. Accidental vagrant to Oregon, Texas, and Colorado. The first documented visitor to Texas was photographed mid-February, 2005 at Brazos Bend State Park.
Taxonomy
Polytypic. Consists of eight subspecies[1] :
- I.p. microstictus - Tropical western Mexico (northern Sonora and Chihuahua)
- I.p. yaegeri - Coastal lowlands of western Mexico (southern Sinaloa to southern Nayarit)
- I.p. pustulatus - Tropical southwest Mexico (Colima to northern Oaxaca, Puebla and Veracruz)
- I.p. dickermani - W Mexico (lowlands of southwest Jalisco and Colima to southern Guerrero)
- I.p. formosus - Arid tropical southern Mexico - (Oaxaca and Chiapas) to northwest Guatemala
- I.p. sclateri - Pacific slope of El Salvador to southwest Costa Rica (Nicoya Peninsula)
- I.p. alticola - Arid tropical Guatemala and Atlantic slope of Honduras
Habitat
Tree canopy in open, wooded sites, forest edges and scrub or grassland areas with scattered trees.
Behaviour
The diet includes insects, fruit, and seeds. The nest is a short hanging basket of plant fibers where it lays 3-4 white or pale bluish eggs, splotched brown. Seen singly or in small groups, often with other orioles.
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
