Skip to main content

Spot-breasted Oriole Life History

Habitat

TownsSuburban neighborhoods. In native range found in open woodlands, dry scrub, forest edges, and around ranches and villages.Back to top

Food

FruitInsects, berries, and nectar.Back to top

Nesting

Nest Placement

Tree

Nest Description

A long, hanging pouch woven of fibers and thin roots of epiphytes, suspended in the fork of a tree branch.

Nesting Facts

Egg Description:White with black and purple scrawling.
Condition at Hatching:Helpless.
Back to top

Behavior

Foliage GleanerGleans insects from foliage, opens rolled leaves, visits flowers.Back to top

Conservation

Low ConcernThere is little information on population trends of Spot-breasted Oriole. The species is not on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List. Spot-breasted Oriole probably escaped from a Miami tourist facility or from the pet trade in 1948, and then became numerous across seven counties in southeastern Florida by the 1970s. Cold winters reduced populations in the early 1980s, but they appear to be recovering in some areas.Back to top

Credits

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (2003). Florida's Breeding Bird Atlas: A Collaborative Study of Florida's Birdlife.

North American Bird Conservation Initiative. (2014). The State of the Birds 2014 Report. US Department of Interior, Washington, DC, USA.

Robertson, W. B., Jr., and G. E. Woolfenden (1992). Florida Bird Species: an Annotated List. Florida Ornithological Society Special Publication 6, Florida Ornithological Society, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.

Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Back to top

Learn more at Birds of the World