Orchard Oriole

About the Orchard Oriole

The smallest oriole in North America, the Orchard Oriole trades the flaming orange of its larger cousins for a deep, rich chestnut - the adult male a striking chestnut-and-black, while females and young are a soft greenish-yellow. Slim and quick, it slips through the leaves more like a warbler than the bold orioles most people know.

Orchard Orioles weave neat, hanging basket nests in shade trees along rivers, in orchards, and around town, and they forage briskly for insects and visit flowers for nectar, the male delivering a fast, rich, tumbling warble from the canopy.

In Texas the Orchard Oriole is a warm-season breeder found across much of the state, arriving in spring - and, true to its restless nature, many slip back south early, gone again by late summer.

A note from behind the lens: flowering and fruiting trees along a river or in a shady yard are the places to wait. Prefocus where a singing male is working the blossoms, and catch that deep chestnut against green leaves in soft, filtered morning light.