Yellow-tailed Oriole

A brightly-colored finch usually found in hilly or montane coniferous and mixed forests. Male is black above and yellow below. Female is similar, but has a brownish-gray head and chest. Both sexes have white and yellow patches on the wings. Male resembles his Spot-winged Grosbeak counterpart, but White-winged has fewer white spots on the wing and a black (not yellow) chest. The female White-winged superficially resembles female Collared Grosbeak, but female White-winged has a white spot on the wings.

Flocks of these large sea ducks enliven northern coastlines. Males are white and black with a soft suffusion of green on the nape. Immature males are variable and messy-looking with patches of black and white. Females vary from rich rufous-brown to cold grayish, always with extensive black barring covering body and wings. Slight variation in bill shape and color across subspecies, especially obvious on males; Pacific birds have brightest orange bills, most others have greenish bills. Dives to feed on mollusks and other crustaceans. In late summer, look for flocks of females with dozens of ducklings; broods often join together. Compare females with other eider species, and note details of bill and head shape.

Spectacular, slender canopy warbler-like bird with a long and graduated white-tipped dark tail. Sexes look different: male has glossy-black upperparts and broad collar, yellow-orange belly, and distinctive white throat and wing panel. Female is duller, crown is gray and back is olive green, but distinctive wing patterning is consistent. Pairs are scarce and local residents in the canopy of low and mid-altitude forest, usually below 1600m. Sometimes joins mixed-species flocks. Calls a lively rollicking repeated up-and-down “tu-ree-du-lee”, for up to a minute at a time.