Puerto Rican Oriole
Icterus portoricensis
A sleek inhabitant of wooded areas that ventures into gardens and parks searching for flowers and fruit; prefers areas with palms. The adult is distinctively all black except for its yellow vent, rump, and shoulders. No similar species occur within its range. Immatures are yellow to yellow-orange and resemble immature Baltimore Orioles, but have thicker and blacker bill and lack the white wingbars seen on Baltimore Orioles. Full song is fluid series of whistled upslurred and down-slurred notes. Calls include a buzzy “zzwhi” and an emphatic “tchu.”
Identification
The Puerto Rican oriole (Icterus portoricensis), or calandria is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, and genus Icterus or New World blackbirds. This species is a part of a subgroup of orioles (Clade A) that includes the North American orchard oriole, Icterus spurius, and the hooded oriole, Icterus cucullatus. The Puerto Rican oriole was previously grouped with Cuban oriole (Icterus melanopsis), Hispaniolan oriole (Icterus dominicensis), and Bahama oriole (Icterus northropi) as a single species, (Icterus dominicensis). In 2010, all four species became recognized as full species by the American Ornithologists' Union.
Taxonomy
Genus: Icterus; Family: Icteridae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Icterus portoricensis
- Authority
- Bryant, H, 1866
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Icteridae
- Genus
- Icterus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Parodi's Hemispingus
Kleinothraupis parodii
Small olive-yellow tanager with a dingy brown face and crown and a yellow eyebrow. Found in humid elfin forest in the southern Peruvian Andes, where it forages singly or in pairs, often joining mixed-species flocks with other tanagers, flowerpiercers, and hemispinguses. Compared to the smaller Citrine and Pale-legged Warblers, note the blunter gray bill (black and thin in the warblers), larger size, and bolder behavior.
Saffron Toucanet
Pteroglossus bailloni
Unmistakable yellow toucan with a long two-toned bill: half red and half greenish-yellow. The iris is pale and framed with bare red skin. Also note the red rump. Usually seen in the canopy of humid and second growth forests in small groups, sometimes descending to visit feeding stations.
Gray Fantail
Rhipidura albiscapa
Small songbird with long, pale-tipped tail, tiny, thin bill. Gray above, pale below, with narrow pale wingbars and a thin black border between white throat and chest. Frequently cocks and fans tail. Subspecies vary in upperparts tone and extent of white in the tail. Inhabits wide range of habitats, very active in foraging, and rarely perches in the same place for long.
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