Medium-sized, sturdy-bodied songbird with a thick neck, long legs, and pointed bill. Adult males have an entirely black head and back with an orange rump and orange outer tail feathers.
Thick-necked songbird with a long, pointed bill. Adult female plumage is highly variable ranging from a brownish to yellowish head and back. Note yellow tail and yellow undertail coverts.
Note fairly long, sharply pointed bill—a useful feature to identify members of the blackbird family. Males are brilliant orange and black, with orange shoulder patch and broad white wingbar.
Female plumage is highly variable. Some have brownish heads and backs. Note yellow tail and undertail coverts.
Immature females have a grayish back with faint streaking and a pale yellow wash on the head and breast. Note yellow tail.
Song is a rich whistle, rising and falling in a few phrases.
Flashes yellowish to orange outer tail feathers in flight.
Orioles often come to oranges offered at backyard feeding stations.
Found in open woodland, forest edge, orchards, and stands of trees along rivers, in parks, and in backyards.
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Smaller and more slender than an American Robin, Baltimore Orioles are medium-sized, sturdy-bodied songbirds with thick necks and long legs. Look for their long, thick-based, pointed bills, a hallmark of the blackbird family they belong to.
About the size of a Red-winged Blackbird, but slimmer.
robin-sizedIn central North America—including Kansas, Nebraska, Saskatchewan, and Alberta—the Baltimore Oriole’s range overlaps with its close relative the Bullock’s Oriole, and the two species breed with each other. Their hybrid offspring—brighter orange than a typical Bullock’s, but duller than a typical Baltimore—can confuse bird watchers.
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