Hooded Oriole, Icterus cucullatus

Hooded Oriole, Icterus cucullatus nelsoni, Female. Bird photographed in residential Oak Hills, California. Photograph and identification courtesy of Julie McGhee, Oak Hills.

Hooded Oriole, Icterus cucullatus nelsoni, Male. Bird photograph taken in residential Alamos, Sonora, February 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Hooded Oriole, Icterus cucullatus trochiloidaes, Males. Birds photographed in residential Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, March 2011. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Background and Identification

The Hooded Oriole, Icterus cucullatus , is one of five subspecies of Hooded Oriole, all five of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Icteriidae Family of Troupials and Allies that includes Grackles, New World Blackbirds and Orioles, that has one hundred five individual species that have been placed into thirty genus and one of thirty-two global species of the Icterus Genus. They are named for the striking orange hood of the males. They are also known as the Palm-leaf Oriole.

The Hooded Oriole is mid-sized in stature and the sexes are of similar size but very different in color. The mature males are yellowish orange with a limited black throat. The females have olive-yellow heads, rump, tail and underparts; their backs are a dull grayish-olive with grayish black wings with two wing-bars, the upper one is stronger and wider than the lower one. Their bill is long, slender and decurved and is black with paly grayish-blue or bluish white basal portion of the mandible, their iris is dark and their legs and their feet are bluish-gray. The have long bills and wings with relatively long rounded tail.

Habitat and Geographical Range

They are found in open woodlands, thickets, palms and shade trees and are known to frequent suburban yards. They are found at elevations up to 2,000 m (6,600 feet). They feed on fruits, insects and nectar. They have been poorly studied and very little has been documented about their biology and behavioral patterns. The nelsoni subspecies is found year-round in Baja California, northern Chihuahua, and southern Sonora, and has been known to winter in Sinaloa. The trochiloidaes subspecies is found year-round in Baja California Sur south of San Ignacio.

Common Misidentifications

Conservation Status

From a conservation perspective the Hooded Oriole is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely distributed populations. Their populations are in decline in some areas which attributed to parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, and the Bronzed Cowbird, Molothrus aeneus.