Black-backed Oriole

About the Black-backed Oriole

The black-backed oriole (Icterus abeillei) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, the oropendolas, New World orioles, and New World blackbirds. It is endemic to Mexico. The black-backed oriole was formally described in 1839 with the binomial Xanthornis Abeillei (sic). At one time it and what are now Bullock's oriole (I. bullockiorum) and the Baltimore oriole (I. galbula) were treated as conspecific.

The black-backed oriole is monotypic. The black-backed oriole is 18 to 20.5 cm (7.1 to 8.1 in) long and weighs 31 to 37 g (1.1 to 1.3 oz). Adult males are black on the crown, sides of the head, nape, and upperparts. They have an orange line above the lores, thin orange crescents above and below the eye, and orange cheeks. Their upperwing is mostly black with wide white edges on the flight feathers. The wing's median and greater coverts are white and show as a large patch on the closed wing. Their tail's three outer pairs of feathers are yellow with black tips and the rest are black. They have a black chin that extends in a thin stripe down the throat. The rest of their throat and their underparts are orange-yellow. Their flanks and... Wikipedia →