Baltimore Oriole

Description:

The Baltimore oriole is a small icterid blackbird common in eastern North America as a migratory breeding bird. Orioles feed on insects, fruit, and nectar, preferring ripe, dark-colored fruit, such as red cherries and purple grapes.

Habitat:

Typically, the Baltimore Oriole in the spring migrates north from Mexico and South America to the United States, and returns south for the winter. In the spring, the Oriole weaves bag-shaped hanging nests often found on shade trees in small towns here and in the Midwest.

Notes:

It received its name from the resemblance of the male's colors to those on the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore. Observations of interbreeding between the Baltimore oriole and the western Bullock's oriole, Icterus bullockii, led to both being classified as a single species, called the northern oriole, from 1973 to 1995. Research by James Rising, a professor of zoology at the University of Toronto, and others showed that the two birds actually did not interbreed significantly.