New World oriole

New World orioles are a group of birds in the genus Icterus of the blackbird family. Although they are not closely related to Old World orioles of the family Oriolidae, they are strikingly similar in size, diet, behavior, and strongly contrasting plumage. As a result, the two have been given the same vernacular name.

Males are typically black and vibrant yellow or orange with white markings, females and immature birds duller. They molt annually. New World orioles are generally slender with long tails and a pointed bill. They mainly eat insects, but also enjoy nectar and fruit. The nest is a woven, elongated pouch. Species nesting in areas with cold winters are strongly migratory, while subtropical and tropical species are more sedentary.

The name "oriole" was first recorded (in the Latin form oriolus) by the German Dominican friar Albertus Magnus in about 1250, which he erroneously stated to be onomatopoeic, from the song of the European golden oriole.

One of the species in the genus, Bahama oriole, is considered endangered, formerly critically endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.<ref>Template:Cite iucn</ref>

Taxonomy

The genus Icterus was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the Venezuelan troupial as the type species.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The name is the Latin word for a yellow bird, probably the Eurasian golden oriole.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The genus name Icterus, as used by classical authors, referred to a bird with yellow or green plumage. Icterus is from Greek ἴκτερος (íkteros, "jaundice"); the ictērus was a bird the sight of which was believed to cure jaundice, perhaps the Eurasian golden oriole.<ref>ictĕrus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press.</ref> Brisson re-applied the name to the New World birds because of their similarity in appearance.<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref>

Species list

The genus contains 32 extant species.<ref name=ioc>Template:Cite web</ref>

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Scott's oriole	Icterus parisorum	Southwestern United States and south to Baja California Sur and central Mexico.
	Yellow-backed oriole	Icterus chrysater	Belize, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela.
	Audubon's oriole	Icterus graduacauda	westernmost range extends from Nayarit south to southern Oaxaca, whereas the eastern range stretches from the lower Rio Grande valley to northern Querétaro
	Jamaican oriole	Icterus leucopteryx	Jamaica and on the Colombian island of San Andrés
File:Icterus auratus 60726713.jpg	Orange oriole	Icterus auratus	the Yucatán Peninsula and far northern Belize
File:Altamira Oriole National Butterfly Center Mission TX 2018-03-12 08-38-00 (39174878290).jpg	Altamira oriole	Icterus gularis	subtropical lowlands of the Mexican Gulf Coast and northern Central America, the Pacific coast and inland
File:Icterus nigrogularis Turpial amarillo Yellow Oriole (8495625798).jpg	Yellow oriole	Icterus nigrogularis	northern South America in Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas and parts of northern Brazil, (northern Roraima state, and eastern Amapá)
File:Bullock's Oriole.jpg	Bullock's oriole	Icterus bullockiorum	as far north as British Columbia in Canada and as far south as Sonora or Durango in Mexico
File:Icterus pustulatus 1.jpg	Streak-backed oriole	Icterus pustulatus	Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and an occasional visitor to the Southwestern United States
File:Icterus abeillei 60979467.jpg	Black-backed oriole	Icterus abeillei	Mexico.
File:Baltimore Oriole- dorsum.jpg	Baltimore oriole	Icterus galbula	Canadian Prairies and eastern Montana in the northwest eastward through southern Ontario, southern Quebec and New Brunswick and south through the eastern United States to central Mississippi and Alabama and northern Georgia.
File:Icterus mesomelas.jpg	Yellow-tailed oriole	Icterus mesomelas	southern Mexico to western Peru and northwestern Venezuela
File:Icterus pectoralis-- the Spot-breasted Oriole (24184797909).jpg	Spot-breasted oriole	Icterus pectoralis	Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
File:White Edged Oriole RWD2.jpg	White-edged oriole	Icterus graceannae	Ecuador and Peru.
File:Corrupião - Icterus jamacai.JPG	Campo troupial	Icterus jamacaii	northeastern Brazil
File:Curacao-Icterus-Icterus-2013.JPG	Venezuelan troupial	Icterus icterus	Colombia, Venezuela, and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Puerto Rico.
File:Orange-backed Troupial (Icterus croconotus) (28557678726).jpg	Orange-backed troupial	Icterus croconotus	Guyana, Brazil, Paraguay, and eastern Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru
File:Bar-winged Oriole - Chiapas - Mexico S4E7324 (23521447649).jpg	Bar-winged oriole	Icterus maculialatus	El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
File:Black-vented Oriole (Icterus wagleri) (8079398668).jpg	Black-vented oriole	Icterus wagleri	El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the United States.
File:Hooded Oriole (34135625394).jpg	Hooded oriole	Icterus cucullatus	Baja California Sur, the Mexican east coast, and Belize.
File:Black-cowled Oriole.jpg	Black-cowled oriole	Icterus prosthemelas	eastern half of mainland Central America.
File:Orchard Oriole by Dan Pancamo 2.jpg	Orchard oriole	Icterus spurius	United States, Mexico
File:Cuban Oriole .cu (3).jpg	Cuban oriole	Icterus melanopsis	island of Cuba and the neighboring Isla de la juventud
File:Bahama Oriole.jpg	Bahama oriole	Icterus northropi	the Bahamas.
	Martinique oriole	Icterus bonana	Martinique, French West Indies
File:Icterus portoricensis imported from iNaturalist photo 6037125 on 4 September 2019.jpg	Puerto Rican oriole	Icterus portoricensis	Puerto Rico
File:Icterus oberi -London Zoo, England-8a.jpg	Montserrat oriole	Icterus oberi	Lesser Antilles of the West Indies,
	Saint Lucia oriole	Icterus laudabilis	main island of St. Lucia
File:Icterus dominicensis.jpg	Hispaniolan oriole	Icterus dominicensis	Hispaniola.
File:Orange-crowned Oriole - Darién - Panama (48444344772).jpg	Orange-crowned oriole	Icterus auricapillus	eastern Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.
File:Encontro (Icterus pyrrhopterus) (17772698624).jpg	Variable oriole	Icterus pyrrhopterus	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
File:Epaulet Oriole - Pantanal - Brazil H8O1352 (23781001732).jpg	Epaulet oriole	Icterus cayanensis	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname.

One extinct species, the Talara troupial (Icterus turmalis), is known from fossil remains recovered from the Talara Tar Seeps of northwestern Peru, and likely went extinct during the late Quaternary. It may have been a close associate of Pleistocene megafauna communities, and may have gone extinct following their collapse in populations.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

External links

• New World oriole videos, photos and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection