Scott’s Oriole, Icterus parisorum

Scott’s Oriole, Icterus parisorum, Male, Juvenile Transitioning To An Adult. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, May 2016. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Scott’s Oriole, Icterus parisorum, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, March 2019. Photography courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Scott’s Oriole, Icterus parisorum, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, May 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Scott’s Oriole, Icterus parisorum, is 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 genera and one of thirty-two global species of the Icterus Genus. They are also known as the Desert Oriole and the Mountain Oriole and in Mexico as turpial de Scott.

Scott’s Oriole is medium in stature. The sexes are dichromatic in both size and appearance and easily separated. The males are larger than the females and have a yellow body with a black hood and breast with a lemon-colored body. Their wings are black with a white wing-bar and yellow epaulet bordered in white. The females have a less conspicuous dull-yellow to olive-green plumage, with a variable, but limited amount of black feathering on the head. Their bills are black or bluish black, their iris is dark brown or black, and their legs and feet are slate or grayish blue.

Scott’s Oriole is commonly found in relatively elevated, arid habitats, particularly desert-facing slopes of mountains, the piñon-juniper belt in foothills and semiarid plains between mountain ranges, where yuccas are common; tends to avoid real deserts, where cacti are dominant. They primarily consume insects that are supplemented by seasonal fruits and nectar. They have life spans of up to seven years. Scott’s Oriole is poorly studied and very little about their biology and behavioral patterns has been documented.

In Mexico Scott’s Oriole are found at higher elevations (1,300 m or 4,300 feet to 2,600 m or 8,500 feet) being restricted in the western portions of the country. They are short to medium distance migrants moving south to winter from the United States to Baja California and the tropical lowlands of Sonora south to Oaxaca. Some individuals are year-round residents and non-migratory.

Scott’s Oriole can be separated from several other orioles by its lemon-yellow color. They are most like confused with the Black-vented Oriole, Icterus wagleri (lacks yellow on the tail and their legs and feet are slate or grayish-blue).

From a conservation perspective, Scott’s Oriole is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their populations are currently negatively impacted by habitat by human development. They are frequent visitors to nectar feeders.