Baltimore oriole facts for kids
The Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula) is a small blackbird that lives in eastern North America. It's a migratory bird, meaning it flies to different places for breeding and winter. This bird got its name because the male's bright orange and black colors look like the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore from the 1600s.
For a while, scientists thought the Baltimore oriole and the western Bullock's oriole were the same species. They called them the "northern oriole." But later research showed they don't really mix much, so they are now considered two separate species again.
The Baltimore oriole is the official state bird of Maryland. It's also the mascot for the famous Baltimore Orioles baseball team!
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About the Baltimore Oriole
The Baltimore oriole was first officially described in 1758 by a Swedish scientist named Carl Linnaeus. He gave it the scientific name Coracias galbula. Later, it was placed in the Icterus group, which includes 32 different New World orioles.
The word "Oriole" comes from a Latin word, aureolus, which means "golden." The scientific name Icterus comes from an old Greek word for a yellow bird. The second part of its name, galbula, is also a Latin word for a yellow bird. All these names point to the bird's beautiful golden-yellow color!
What They Look Like
These medium-sized birds are about 17 to 22 centimeters (6.7 to 8.7 inches) long. Their wings can spread out from 23 to 32 centimeters (9.1 to 12.6 inches). They have a strong body, a long tail, fairly long legs, and a thick, pointed beak. On average, they weigh about 33.8 grams (1.2 ounces). Male orioles are a little bigger than females.
Adult males are bright orange on their belly, shoulder patches, and lower back. Some males are a fiery deep orange, while others are more yellowish-orange. The rest of the male's feathers are black.
Adult females are yellowish-brown on their upper parts with darker wings. Their chest and belly are a dull orange-yellow. Young orioles look similar to the females. Male orioles don't get their full adult colors until the fall of their second year. All adult orioles have white bars on their wings.
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Where They Live
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Baltimore orioles spend their summers in North America. This includes parts of Canada like southern Ontario and Quebec, and the eastern United States, going south to central Mississippi and Alabama.
When winter comes, they fly south to warmer places. They mostly go to Central America and northern South America, and sometimes to the southern coast of the United States. Some orioles might even stay in the southern U.S. all winter if they find good food sources.
Their home range overlaps with the similar Bullock's oriole in the middle of the United States. They were once thought to be the same species because they could have babies together.
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Baltimore orioles like to live high up in large, leafy trees. They don't usually live in very dense forests. You can often find them in open woodlands, along the edges of forests, or near rivers. They are very good at adapting to different places. Nowadays, you can often see them in orchards, farms, city parks, and even in neighborhoods, as long as there are some trees. In Mexico, where they spend the winter, they like to be in flowering trees, often in coffee farms that grow coffee under shade trees.
Sadly, from 1966 to 2015, the number of Baltimore orioles decreased by more than 1.5% each year in the northern and eastern parts of their breeding areas. One reason for this was Dutch elm disease, which destroyed many of their favorite elm trees where they liked to build nests.
Behavior
Songs and Calls
The Baltimore oriole's song is a short, sweet whistle. It sounds like "tyew, pyeer, peededoo, and "teer. " They also make other sounds like a nasal "veeer, " a low chattering sound, and two high calls that sound like "tyew-li " and "kleek. "
Male orioles sing clear, vibrant whistles that flow smoothly. Their songs are a short series of notes, repeated 2-7 times, lasting 1-2 seconds. During breeding season, male orioles sometimes make a "flutter-drum sound" with their wings while flying. Male orioles sing to claim and protect their territory.
Female orioles also sing to communicate. When protecting her nest, a female will make a fierce screeching sound. Both male and female orioles make special warning calls that sound like noisy chatter when they are fighting. If other orioles hear these warning calls, they will often come to help defend the territory.
Breeding
Baltimore orioles usually live alone, except during mating season. They typically stay with one partner. In the spring, males find a territory and then try to attract females. They sing and chatter while hopping from branch to branch in front of the female. Males also do a special bow, lowering their wings and fanning their tail.
Females might ignore these displays, or they might sing, call back, or do a "wing-quiver" display. In this display, they lean forward, sometimes fanning their tail, and flutter their slightly lowered wings.
The female Baltimore oriole builds the nest. It's a tightly woven, pouch-like nest that hangs down from the end of a tree branch. She uses fine plant materials or animal hair she can find. They often choose trees like elm, cottonwood, maple, willow, or apple trees. The nest is usually about 7 to 9 meters (23 to 30 feet) above the ground.
The female lays three to seven eggs, but usually about four. The eggs are pale gray to bluish-white and are about 2.3 x 1.6 centimeters (0.9 x 0.6 inches) in size. The eggs hatch after 12 to 14 days. Once the baby birds hatch, both parents feed them partially digested food. The female also keeps them warm for two weeks. After that, the young birds start to fly and become independent soon after. If the eggs, young, or nest are destroyed, the oriole cannot lay another set of eggs that season.
Lifespan and Dangers
Many adult orioles are caught by predators, and their eggs, nestlings, and young birds are also at risk. Common animals that attack Baltimore oriole nests include common grackles, American crows, blue jays, black-billed magpies, tree squirrels, and domestic cats. Cats often catch young orioles that have just learned to fly or adults that are sitting on the nest.
Birds of prey, like eastern screech owls, Cooper's hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks, often hunt both young and adult orioles. Larger birds of prey like peregrine falcons, great horned owls, and barn owls sometimes catch orioles too. Merlins might hunt them during their migration.
The oldest Baltimore oriole found in the wild lived to be 11 years and 7 months old. In captivity, they have been known to live up to 14 years.
What They Eat
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Baltimore orioles look for food in trees and bushes. They also make short flights to catch insects. They are very acrobatic, climbing, hovering, and hanging among leaves as they search high branches.
They mainly eat insects, berries, and nectar. You might often see them sipping from hummingbird feeders. One of their favorite foods is the forest tent caterpillar moth, especially when it's a larva (caterpillar). These caterpillars can cause a lot of damage to trees if not controlled by predators like orioles. The orioles will hit the caterpillar against a branch to remove its protective hairs before eating it. They also eat beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, bugs, and spiders. By eating these caterpillars, Baltimore orioles help keep forest trees and plants healthy.
Unlike many other birds that eat fruit, Baltimore orioles seem to prefer only ripe, dark-colored fruit. They look for the darkest mulberries, the reddest cherries, and the deepest-purple grapes. They will ignore green grapes and yellow cherries, even if they are ripe.
Baltimore orioles sometimes use their beaks to "gape." This means they stab their closed beak into soft fruits, then open their beak to drink the juice with their tongues. In spring and fall, they eat a lot of nectar, fruit, and other sugary foods. This helps them build up fat, which gives them energy for their long migration flights.
Many people now attract Baltimore orioles to their backyards with special feeders. These feeders often have the same food as hummingbird feeders, but they are designed for orioles, are orange instead of red, and have larger perches. Baltimore orioles also love halved oranges, grape jelly, and in their winter homes, the red seeds of gumbo-limbo trees. If they find a good feeder, orioles will even bring their young birds there.
See also
In Spanish: Oropéndola de Baltimore para niños
