Synopsis
A guide to 129 familiar American birds illustrated in full color including over 100 related and similar species of birds.
From the Publisher
--------- BALTIMORE ORIOLE
Icterus galbula
Halloween comes to mind when a male Baltimore oriole, with its flame-orange and black plumage, flashes into view. By late October, however, this songbird may be seen only occasionally at feeders, as it migrates in colorful flocks from its summer territory throughout the East, It's named not for the Maryland port city on Chesapeake Bay, but for its color scheme, which is the same as that of Lord Baltimore's family, the 17th century founders of the Maryland colony.
Other orioles - Bullock's in the West, the spotted in Florida, and the orchard throughout the East and South - are similar in size, coloration, habits, and diet. Indeed they're known to interbreed and produce hybrids.
Orioles are most commonly seen in broken woodlands, forest edges, parks, open fields, garden, and at feeders. They forage for a wide variety of insects and spiders, and also like berries, other fruits, and flowers nectar.
Versatile singers, orioles can chatter like squirrels, whistle a long melody, and deliver a somewhat forlorn two-note call.
Field Notes
Habitat: Wooded areas, parkland in city, suburb, and country, alongside roads and streams.
Range: Everywhere east of the Rockies except the lower Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf Coast. Bullock's oriole is found throughout the western states.
Diet: Insects and spiders of all kinds, fruits, flower nectar.
Nest: Sack of fibrosis materials suspended at the end of a drooping branch in a deciduous tree.
Eggs: Usually 3 to 5; blue-gray to white with some darker markings.
Status: Not threatened.
Excerpted from Fandex Family Field Guides: Birds. Copyright (c) 1998 by Workman Publishing. Reprinted by permission of Workman Publishing.
--This text refers to the
Misc. Supplies
edition.