Baltimore Oriole

Icterus galbula

We once thought The Baltimore Oriole and the Bullock’s Oriole were the same species. We called it the Northern Oriole. In 1995, committees who make such decisions, split the species into the two orioles we know today. The Bullock’s being a western bird and the Baltimore an eastern bird, but the two birds barely look alike.

The Baltimore Oriole’s breeds across most of the lower Mississippi Valley and northwest into Alberta (Canada). They also breed further east to New England and Southeast Canada. Some of them winter in Florida and Cuba, but many fly to Mexico and South America.

Today, science regards the Baltimore Oriole as monotypic (i.e. there are no subspecies).

I met this bird briefly in Canada in 2005, while on an expedition to Alaska. But my best meetings came while I visited south Texas in the spring of 2020 and 2021, where I enjoyed these birds in migration. Later, while traveling to Canada in 2023, I met more of these brilliant birds in Ohio, Ontario, and Pennsylvania.

Range Map for Baltimore Oriole
Range Map

37 Photos

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