Altamira Oriole

About the Altamira Oriole

The Altamira Oriole is the largest oriole in the United States and one of the signature birds of the Rio Grande Valley - a big, blazing orange-and-black bird with a black face and bib, black back and tail, an orange shoulder patch, and a heavy, straight bill. Males and females look alike, and even young birds are a strong yellow-orange.

Altamiras build the most spectacular nest of any Texas bird: a woven pouch up to two feet long that hangs from the tip of a high branch or utility wire, swaying in the wind and safe from most predators. They work slowly through the canopy for insects and fruit and are regulars at refuge feeding stations, where they take orange halves and sugar water.

In Texas the Altamira Oriole is a year-round resident of the Rio Grande Valley, reaching the United States only there, and the feeders at Estero Llano Grande, Bentsen, and Santa Ana are the classic places to watch one at close range.