Orchard Orioles Band Together

Orchard orioles are social birds that build their nests in large trees among streambanks and wetlands. The males have chestnut-colored breasts and black backs and wings, while females and immature birds are mostly yellow. After the males fly south in late July and early August, the young birds and females stay behind to forage for late summer berries. Protecting streamside habitats helps these colorful birds, along with a whole suite of other species that depend on clean water and lots of shrubby habitat.

Support for BirdNote is provided by Sarah Merner and Craig McKibben from Seattle, Washington, and generous listeners around the world.

BirdNote^®
Orchard Orioles Band Together
Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

[Orchard Oriole song, ML100785]

This bird’s song sounds like a nasally imitation of a robin, and the bird singing it is a rusty-brown riff on a Baltimore Oriole. Called the Orchard Oriole, males have chestnut-colored breasts and black backs and wings, while females and immature birds are mostly yellow.

Orchard Orioles are very social birds, often with a few nesting pairs sharing the same large tree among streambanks, wetlands, and other shrubby areas. As early as late July, male Orchard Orioles head south for the winter. Their young are still just juveniles learning to find food, so they stick with the adult females, searching together for mulberries and other late summer fruits.

[Orchard Oriole calls and wing flutters, ML73920, 0:44-0:49]

Although common, these birds have been in a slow decline for over fifty years. When habitats along streams are damaged by grazing cattle, Orchard Orioles often can’t use the area for nesting anymore. Protecting streamside vegetation helps these colorful birds, along with a whole suite of other species that depend on clean water and lots of leafy trees and shrubs.

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

Support for BirdNote is provided by Sarah Merner and Craig McKibben from Seattle, Washington, and generous listeners around the world.

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Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Orchard Oriole ML100785 recorded by Wil Hershberger. Orchard Oriole ML73920 recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote May 2025
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# OROR-01-2025-05-19 OROR-01

Reference:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Orchard_Oriole/overview
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/orcori/
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/orchard-oriole