Black-vented Oriole

About the Black-vented Oriole

The black-vented oriole (Icterus wagleri) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, the oropendolas, New World orioles, and New World blackbirds.. It is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua and has reached the United States as a vagrant.

The black-vented oriole was formally described in 1857 with the binomial Icterus wagleri, which it has retained ever since. The black-vented oriole has two subspecies, the nominate I. w. wagleri (Sclater, PL, 1857) and I. w. castaneopectus (Brewster, 1888).

The black-vented oriole is 20.5 to 23 cm (8.1 to 9.1 in) long. Males weigh an average of about 41 g (1.4 oz) and females an average of 39 g (1.4 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a black head, throat, upper breast, mantle, back, rump, uppertail coverts, and tail. Their lowermost belly and undertail coverts are also black. Their wing is mostly black with orange-yellow lesser and median coverts that show as an epaulet on the closed wing. Their underparts have a tinge of chestnut just below the black breast and are otherwise orange-yellow. Adult females are duller overall than males and generally more yellow... Wikipedia →