Yellow-tailed oriole

{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | image = Icterus mesomelas.jpg | status = LC | image2 = Icterus mesomelas - Yellow-tailed Oriole XC242803.mp3 | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2020 |title=''Icterus mesomelas'' |volume=2020 |article-number=e.T22724096A136760539 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22724096A136760539.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Icterus mesomelas | authority =(Wagler, 1829) | range_map = Icterus mesomelas map.svg | range_map_caption = Range of ''I. mesomelas'' }}

The '''yellow-tailed oriole''' ('''''Icterus mesomelas''''') is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds from southern Mexico to western Peru and northwestern Venezuela; in Peru it also lives in a river valley corridor.

The yellow-tailed oriole is {{convert|22|–|23|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|70|g|oz|abbr=on}}. It is mainly yellow with a black back, lower face and upper breast. The wings are black with yellow epaulets. The tail, seen from above, is black with yellow margins; from below, it appears almost entirely yellow. This is the only oriole with prominent yellow in the tail, hence the species' name. The sexes are similar, but young birds have the black on the back and tail replaced with olive-green.

There are four subspecies:<ref name=IOC/> * ''I. m. mesomelas'' – (Wagler, 1829): nominate, found from Mexico to Honduras, has yellow fringes to the tertials * ''I. m. salvinii'' – Cassin, 1867: found in the Caribbean lowlands of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, has no yellow fringes to the tertials and is more orange than the nominate race * ''I. m. carrikeri'' – Todd, 1917: found in Panama, Colombia and northwestern Venezuela, is like ''salvinii'', but less orange and smaller-billed * ''I. m. taczanowskiis'' – Ridgway, 1901: found in Pacific South America from Ecuador to western Peru, has white fringes to the tertials

The calls of this species include a ''chick'' and a ''weechaw''. The song is a melodic repetition of rich whistles, ''chuck, chuck-yeeaow''. It is often given as a duet, with the female's response following or overlapping the male's longer phrases.

This large oriole inhabits dense thickets, often with vines, '' Heliconias'' and similar dense growths, in swampy lowlands. The birds forage in pairs or small groups in denser vegetation than most orioles, mainly feeding on insects, although they will also take nectar and certain fruits such as gumbo-limbo (''Bursera simaruba'').<ref name=Foster2007/>

It builds a deep but thin cup nest {{Convert|2|m|ft|abbr=on}} high in a thorny scrub by a stream. It lays three dark-blotched white eggs, which hatch in 13 days with a further 14 days to fledging.

The yellow-tailed oriole is fairly common except in Peru and Venezuela, but is reducing in numbers in parts of its range because of persecution by the cage-bird trade; this species is valued for both its appearance and its beautiful song.

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=Foster2007>{{cite journal |last=Foster |first=Mercedes S. |year=2007 |title=The potential of fruiting trees to enhance converted habitats for migrating birds in southern Mexico |journal=Bird Conservation International |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=45–61 |doi=10.1017/S0959270906000554|doi-access=free }}</ref> <ref name=IOC>{{cite web |editor-last=Gill |editor-first=F. |editor2-last=Donsker |editor2-first=D. |year=2019 |title=IOC World Bird List: Oropendolas, orioles, blackbirds |url= https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/blackbirds/ |access-date=25 June 2019}}</ref> }}

==Further reading== {{refbegin}} *{{ cite book | last=Skutch | first=Alexander F. | author-link=Alexander Skutch | date=1954 | chapter=Yellow-tailed oriole | title=Life Histories of Central American Birds | series=Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 31 | location=Berkeley, California | publisher=Cooper Ornithological Society | chapter-url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/pca/pca_031.pdf#page=262 | pages=263–265 | ref=none }} {{refend}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Icterus mesomelas}} {{Wikispecies|Icterus mesomelas}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010114045300/http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/20404500.htm Yellow-tailed oriole stamps]}} from Ecuador and Mexico at {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19990428065259/http://www.bird-stamps.org/ bird-stamps.org]}} * [http://www.pbase.com/gtepke/image/25925494 Yellow-tailed oriole photo (shows yellow tail-feathers)], [http://www.pbase.com/gtepke/image/25925493 Photo no. 2] – [http://www.pbase.com/gtepke/panama "Panama Birds" gallery by Glen Tepke at pbase.com] * [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Icterus_mesomelas.html Yellow-tailed oriole species account] on the [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu Animal Diversity Web (ADW)] of the University of Michigan * {{BirdLife|22724096|Icterus mesomelas}} * {{Avibase|name=Icterus mesomelas}} * {{InternetBirdCollection|yellow-tailed-oriole-icterus-mesomelas}} * {{VIREO|yellow-tailed+oriole}} * {{NeotropicalBirds|yetori1|Yellow-tailed oriole}} * {{IUCN_Map|22724096/136760539|Icterus mesomelas}} * {{Xeno-canto species|Icterus|mesomelas|Yellow-tailed oriole}} * {{field guide birds of the world|Icterus mesomelas}}

yellow-tailed oriole Category:Birds of Central America Category:Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Category:Birds of Colombia Category:Birds of Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena yellow-tailed oriole