Scott’s
Oriole
(Icterus parisorum)
In spring and summer, the arid mountain slopes of
the American Southwest ring with
the beautiful song of Scott’s Oriole - clear
fluted phrases often persistently from before
dawn well into the afternoon. Specialties of the
region, Scott’s Orioles are as stunning
visually as they are aurally—especially
adult males, with their lemon-yellow underparts
and white wingbars standing out in sharp contrast
against jet black heads, chests, and backs.
Scott’s Orioles breed throughout a variety
of arid habitats from sea level to about 10,000
feet in elevation; preferred habitats include
desert canyons, pinyon-juniper foothills,
and semiarid plains between mountain ranges. The
breeding range of the species extends from the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of
southern California
discontinuously to appropriate habitat in
southern Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, southwest
Texas, Baja California, and the
Mexican interior. Throughout most of the breeding
range, Scott’s Orioles are migratory, moving
south in fall and spending the winter months in Mexico, south to Oaxaca.
Scott’s Oriole
Range Map
 Scott's Oriole
breeds from southern California, Nevada,
Utah, western Colorado,
central New Mexico, and western Texas
south into Mexico. It winters from
southern California to southern Mexico.
The Scott's Oriole prefers pinyon-juniper
woodlands of montane semidesert areas,
live oak-yucca
associations, and sycamores
and cottonwoods
in canyons. It also uses joshua-tree
habitat. |
In all seasons, Scott’s Orioles feed mostly
on insects and insect larvae, which they pick
from the ground or glean from vegetation.
Scott’s Orioles may fly long distances
between their nests and the places where they
forage. On their wintering grounds in central
Mexico, they feed on monarch butterflies gathered
in dense colonies. Many bird species have
difficulty digesting monarchs because of poisonous chemicals
accumulated in their bodies from the consumption
of milkweed, but
orioles can apparently reject poisonous
individuals or body parts on the basis of taste.
Scott’s Orioles also eat nectar and fruit,
including those of cacti.
Scott’s Orioles nest in many species of
trees — yucca, palms, piñon pines,
junipers, and oaks, among others, depending on
what is present in a given habitat. Nests are
hanging baskets made of leaf fibers (especially
from yucca) or grass, and lined with soft plant
material. Scott’s Oriole nests may be round
or oval, symmetrical or lopsided; they are not as
pendulous as the round bag-like structures of Baltimore Oriole and Altamira Oriole. For their
nests, Scott’s Orioles choose locations that
are well concealed and shaded, usually 6-10 feet
from the ground.
Clutches usually consist of three or four eggs.
On at least one well-studied site, only females
incubate eggs and brood young. Both sexes feed
young and defend the nest against predators. Many
pairs raise two broods in a single summer; in
several documented cases, females have laid eggs
a third time in a single breeding season after
the successful fledging of two earlier broods.
A medium-sized songbird, similar in proportions
to other North American orioles. Adult male
(after second year) has black head, chest, and
mantle, with brilliant yellow belly and vent.
Wings are mostly black with a yellow epaulet and
two white bars. Adult females show more muted
colors—brownish heads, chests, and backs
with variable amounts of black, and dull yellow
underparts.
First-year Scott’s Orioles are duller still
than adult females, with olive-gray plumage
overall. Males in their second year resemble
adult females, with similar variability.
Both males and females sing a melodious series of
whistles, variable among individuals. Call note
is a harsh chuck.
Attract
Scott’s Orioles with our Oriole
Feeder
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