Bird Guide

Black-backed Oriole vs Puerto Rican Oriole

Black-backed Oriole (Icterus abeillei)

Black-backed Oriole

Icterus abeillei

Small33 gForest

The black-backed oriole is 18 to 20.5 cm (7.1 to 8.1 in) long and weighs 31 to 37 g (1.1 to 1.3 oz). Adult males are black on the crown, sides of the head, nape, and upperparts. They have an orange line above the lores, thin orange crescents above and below the eye, and orange cheeks. Their upperwing is mostly black with wide white edges on the flight feathers. The wing's median and greater coverts are white and show as a large patch on the closed wing. Their tail's three outer pairs of feathers are yellow with black tips and the rest are black. Voice: The black-backed oriole's song is "a rich warble, often with some scratchy notes" that covers a rather wide frequency range. Its calls include a "loud chatter and nasal chay".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jer Clarke · CC BY 4.0
Puerto Rican Oriole (Icterus portoricensis)

Puerto Rican Oriole

Icterus portoricensis

Small36 gForest

Males and females are similar in size and color. Males weigh about 41.0 grams and females weigh about 36.6 g. The average wingspan of males and females is 96.9 and 92.1 mm, respectively. In 2008, Hofmann, Cronin, and Omland, conducted a study that showed there is little color difference in the feathers between the males and females of many tropical orioles, including the Puerto Rican oriole. This means that males and females both have elaborate colors, in contrast many temperate-zoned birds have brightly colored males and dull colored females.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Karen Wilson · CC0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-backed Oriole and Puerto Rican Oriole.