The Baltimore Oriole
- Icterus galbula – is Maryland's
official state bird. Its preferred habitat is open woodland,
forest edge, river banks, and small groves of trees. These birds have adapted
well to human settlement and often feed and nest in parks, orchards, and
backyards.
Description
Adults have a
pointed bill and white bars on the wings. The adult male is orange on the
underparts, shoulder patch and rump. All of the rest of the male is black. The
adult female is yellow-brown on the upper parts with darker wings, and dull
orange on the breast and belly.
Call
Single whistled
notes function as contact calls. Common calls include a nasal jeet-jeet and a rattling
chatter. Fledglings make loud nasal calls sounding like dee-dee-dee. The song is a series of bright, slurred
whistles, sometimes with prominent harsh or raspy notes. Both sexes sing,
although the female song is usually simpler in pattern. Songs of individual
birds vary considerably, but each sings a characteristic, recognizable song
pattern.
Food
The Baltimore oriole
mainly eats insects, nectar and berries. A wide variety of insects are eaten,
which include beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, moths, flies, spiders, snails,
and other small invertebrates. They eat many pest species, including tent
caterpillars, gypsy moth caterpillars, fall webworms, spiny elm caterpillars,
and the larvae within plant galls. These birds forage in trees and shrubs also
making short flights to catch insects. They frequently visit flowering trees
and vines in search of fruit and nectar.
Breeding
Baltimore Orioles
build remarkable, sock-like hanging nests, woven together from slender fibers. The
female weaves the nest and anchors her nest high in a fork in the slender upper
branches of a tree. Building the nest takes about a week. The female lays 4 to
5 eggs in late spring or early summer and incubates them alone. Then, both the
male and the female feed the young. Pairs make only one nesting attempt per
year.
Conservation Status – Least Concern
Baltimore oriole
populations appear stable over the long term.
Bird watching
Chesapeake
Bay
Patuxent Research
Refuge
Black Water NWR
Eastern Neck NWR
Cranesville Swamp Preserve
Battle Creek Cypress
Swamp Sanctuary
Choptank
Wetland's Kings Creek Preserve
Robinson Neck/Frank
M. Ewing Preserve
Nassawango Creek
Swamp Preserve