HOODED ORIOLE
(Icterus cucullatus)
eBird describes the Hooded Oriole this way: dult males are orange with black throat, black tail, and white patch on shoulder. Females dull yellow with grayer back, nape, and flanks than Orchard. Immature males similar to females, but with black throat. Often in parks, neighborhoods and near fan palms. Visits feeders with nectar and fruits. Bit smaller and longer-tailed than Baltimore and Bullock’s Oriole. Slightly decurved bill. Variable color intensity; some birds richer orange, some more yellow. All About Birds offers this additional descriptive information: Black and brilliant yellow-orange flash across the sky when male Hooded Orioles dash through open woodlands and yards of the southwestern U.S. Following close behind are the pale yellow females. Sometimes called “palm-leaf orioles,” these orioles “sew” their hanging nests onto the undersides of palm fronds. They often stay hidden while foraging, but their large, slender shape and nearly constant chatter usually give them away. Hooded Orioles also use hummingbird feeders, awkwardly bending or hanging upside down to drink.
I saw my first Hooded Oriole, a female, at the Old Barn blind in Warbler Woods Sanctuary on the morning of July 17, 2020. This bird was high in a tree behind the large circular water trough and did not visit the water or feeders while I was there. I saw no sign of a male.
“Cool Facts” About the Hooded Oriole From All About Birds:
- Hooded Oriole song is a chattering mix of notes and cries that sometimes includes a few notes from their neighbors. In Arizona, they mimic Gila Woodpeckers and Ash-throated Flycatchers.
- Hooded Orioles in California earned the nickname “palm-leaf oriole” because of their tendency to build nests in palm trees. When the nest is suspended from palm leaves, the female pokes holes in the leaf from below and pushes the fibers through, effectively sewing the nest to the leaf.
- A few Hooded Orioles in southern California and Arizona hang around neighborhoods all winter long, taking advantage of free food at hummingbird feeders instead of migrating south.
- Orioles are members of the blackbird family (Icteridae), along with meadowlarks and cowbirds. Birds in this family all have super strong, long, and pointed bills. They use these bills to get at food other birds can’t reach, such as prying apart thick patches of grass, opening up flowers, enlarging holes in tree bark, and digging into ripe fruits for their juice.
- Hooded Orioles expanded their range northward after people planted more ornamental palm trees around their homes and suburban areas. By 2017, Hooded Orioles were using parks and suburban yards as far north as Arcata, California.
- Don’t be fooled by color, Hooded Orioles in Texas and eastern Mexico are flame orange, but those in the southwestern United States and western Mexico are bright yellow.
- The oldest recorded Hooded Oriole was a male, and at least 6 years old when he was found in California in 1972, the same state where he had been banded in 1967.