On Thursday April 29th I was birding with a group at Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend National Park. It was mid-morning and we were looking over some birds at the group camp site which is located at the east end of the complex. At one point, a couple of clients asked about the identity of a certain oriole. I glanced at the bird and initially thought Hooded Oriole. Distracted by an Ash-throated Flycatcher, I did not spend any time studying the oriole. Eventually, I decided to photograph since it was sitting out so nicely. As I focused on it, I noticed that it was not what I had initially taken it to be. As soon as I took the first exposure, it turned and flew directly away out of the campground beyond some mesquites and out of sight. Looking at the photo, I immediately had the hunch that this was some sort of hybrid, and the orange that I was seeing in the tail as well as the bill coloration made me suspect that a Bullock's Oriole was involved. Despite spending some additional time trying to relocate the bird, it was not seen again.
To me, the bird's structure looks intermediate between that of a Hooded and a Bullock's Oriole. The tail seems strongly graduated, which is unusual. The photo gives the impression of there being a great deal of white in the wing panel, though I did not notice this in life. One of the clients specifically commented on how much white there was present.
The bird also somewhat resembles a Streak-backed Oriole, though the tail pattern seems off for that. In addition, the body was more extensively orange than is typical of northern populations of Streak-backed which tend to be most intensely orange around the head. I would enjoy getting feedback and insight from others regarding the identity of this peculiar bird.
1 comment:
Chris - thanks for posting the photos in a good size. Facebook is pretty poor for photos like this. I could not see the yellow you were talking about on my screen! Now I see it. Bills are very important in orioles, not just shape but pattern. The nearly all blue-grey lower mandible is something you see in "Northern" and somewhat in streak-backed, not in Hooded. "Northern" should have the blue-grey going up onto the maxilla, this does not happen on your bird. This too would seem intermediate between Hooded and "Northern." The white tips to rectrices = Hooded. Bib does look intermediate between Hooded and Bullock's. Yellow on tail is weird, not good for anything, except that Northerns have yellow on tail, but not in a pattern like this. Again intermediate. This may well be a hybrid...but I guess it got away.
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