Icterus parisorum
Status: Rare casual summer visitor central.
Documentation: Description: 20-24 Jun 1975 Hall Co (Stoppkotte 1975; Brogie 1998).
Taxonomy: No subspecies are recognized (Gill et al 2022).
Summer: There are eight reports, two, both adult males, acceptably documented:
20-24 Jun 1975 Hall Co (cited above)
29 Jun 2004 Buffalo Co (Brogie 2005).
The six additional unaccepted reports are: 10 May 2006 Saline Co, 21 May 2016 Fort Niobrara NWR, Cherry Co (Brogie 2023), 31 May 1951 Adams Co, 17 and 25 Jun 1983 Chase Co (Pennington 1983; Brogie 1998), 18 Jun 1978 McPherson Co, and 2 Jul 1997 Hall Co (Brogie 1998), all of which fit the pattern of casual summer occurrence and possibly correct. The 1975-1983 reports were in a period following a significant population expansion in western Colorado (Andrews and Righter 1992) and southwestern Wyoming (Scott 1993).
Scott’s Oriole is prone to vagrancy, particularly to the north and northeast (Jaramillo and Burke 1999, Flood 2020); of about 36 records north and east of the Rocky Mountains, Arkansas, and Louisiana, 26 occurred from Jan-Apr, and all 36 during Oct-May (eBird.org, accessed Jan 2024).
Comments: Following the report of a Scott’s Oriole in 2006 (see above), several observers noted sightings of yellow Baltimore Orioles, including photos. It appears that orange pigments are diet-derived (Thomas et al 2014), and some orioles reaching our area may have experienced a deficiency of food items that produce yellow coloration.
Literature Cited
Andrews, R., and R. Righter. 1992. Colorado birds. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Brogie, M.A. 1998. 1997 (Ninth) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 66: 147-159.
Brogie, M.A. 2005. 2004 (16th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 73: 78-84.
Brogie, M.A. 2023. 2022 (34th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 91: 114-122.
Flood, N.J. 2020. Scott’s Oriole (Icterus parisorum), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.scoori.01.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Jaramillo, A., and P. Burke. 1999. New World Blackbirds- The Icterids. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Pennington, L.I. 1983. Scott’s Oriole. NBR 51: 84.
Scott, O.K. 1993. A birder’s guide to Wyoming. American Birding Association, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
Stoppkotte, G.W. 1975. Scott’s Oriole reported. NBR 43: 64-66.
Thomas, D.B., K.J. McGraw, H.F. James, and O. Madden. 2014. Non-destructive descriptions of carotenoids in feathers using Raman spectroscopy. Analytical Methods 6: 1301-1308.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2024. Scott’s Oriole (Icterus parisorum). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 24 Mar 2024