Orchard Oriole

The Orchard Oriole is North America’s smallest oriole, a slim, agile songbird that swaps the blazing oranges of its relatives for rich chestnut-and-black or muted yellow-green plumage. Often unobtrusive, it slips through leafy canopies hunting insects and softly whistling a sweet, jumbled song that seems to drift on summer air.

“chew-chew-chooree-cheedle-cheedle”

Open deciduous woodlands, streamside groves, orchards, parks, shade trees in farms and suburbs, and shrubby edges—especially where willows, cottonwoods, or fruit trees provide both nectar and insect prey.

Long-distance migrant. Adults arrive on breeding grounds from late April to mid-May, nest through July, then depart as early as mid-August, with most gone by September. Winters November–March in the tropics.