Scott's Oriole

About the Scott's Oriole

A striking bird of the arid Southwest, the male Scott's Oriole is a crisp lemon-yellow and black - a black hood, back, and chest set against a bright yellow belly and rump, with bold white wing markings. Females and young are a softer olive-yellow. Few birds look so vivid against the muted grays and greens of desert scrub.

Scott's Orioles are closely tied to yuccas and agaves, weaving their hanging nests among the spiky leaves and probing flowers for nectar and insects. The male sings a rich, whistled song, often from an exposed perch atop a yucca stalk, that carries far across open country.

In Texas they are warm-season breeders of the Trans-Pecos, the western Hill Country, and the Edwards Plateau, arriving in spring to the yucca grasslands and rocky canyons and slipping back south by late summer.

A note from behind the lens: a singing male on a yucca spike is one of the classic images of the West Texas desert. Work the early light when the song posts are busy, and let the yucca and open sky frame that electric yellow.