Baltimore Oriole (female shown)

Icterus galbula L 8 ¼" (22 cm)

Illustration by Julie Zickefoose Listen to a Baltimore oriole.

Baltimore orioles epitomize orioles as North American birders know them. They have a bright orange rump and underparts, black hood and back, broad shortish tails, and long straight bills adept at gleaning nectar and catching insects. Adult females are brownish olive above and orange below.

Baltimore orioles range over much of the United States and southern Canada from the Great Plains east to the Atlantic Ocean. Their common call is a rich hew-li, and the song is an irregular musical sequence of hew-li and other notes.