Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius)

Above and below two: Orchard Orioles at Point Lookout, Maryland (5/4/2008).

Below two: Adult male Orchard Oriole at Fair Hill NRMA, Cecil County, Maryland (5/7/2005).

Below two: A first-year male Orchard Oriole at Fort Smallwood, Maryland (5/19/2007).


Comments:  The less famous of the Mid-Atlantic's two orioles has a lot of character, but often goes unnoticed by non-birders. The male is black and burnt-orange, attractive but less dazzling than the male Baltimore Oriole. It usually forages mid-level in trees and shrubs, while the Baltimore Oriole tends to forage higher in the canopy. The Orchard Oriole nests throughout most of the central and eastern U.S. It can most easily be located by listening for its very musical whistled song: "look here, what cheer, wee yo, what cheer, whip yo, what wheer!" (Smithsonian's "Birds of the Mid-Atlantic").

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