Imaage needed
Icterus wagleri
Black-vented Oriole, a Middle American species, is an accidental visitor to Texas and southern Arizona. This oriole was first reported in the United States in 1968 at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park, Brewster County in September. A Black-vented Oriole, probably the same individual, was present the next summer and was banded. It returned in 1970. In 1989 an individual spent the summer at Kingsville, Kleberg County. The lack of sexual dimorphism made sexing impossible. Black-vented Oriole closely resembles Scott’s Oriole in its wide range of breeding habitats, but the former breeds at lower, hotter elevations as well. (Wauer 1970, Oberholser 1974, Howell and Webb 1996, Am. Ormithol. Union 1998, Lockwood and Freeman 2004).
DISTRIBUTION. During the 1987-1992 field work period of the TBBA project atlasers found confirmed breeding evidence for Black-vented Oriole in latilong block 27097 (Kleberg County). In Middle America Black-vented Oriole is found in north and central Mexico and south on the Pacific slope to central Nicaragua (Howell and Webb 1995).
SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. In Mexico the species is considered a resident; seasonal movements of this oriole need further study (Howell and Webb 1995).
BREEDING HABITAT. In Mexico Howell and Webb (1995) found Black-vented Orioles in arid to semiarid scrub, and semi-open areas with hedges and scattered trees at elevations from 500 to 2500 m (1700 to around 8000 ft). Nests are found at low to mid-levels in trees or bushes.
STATUS. Black-vented Oriole is accidental in Texas (Lockwood and Freeman 2004); in Mexico it is fairly common to common (Howell and Webb 1995) . Text by Robert C. Tweit (2006)
Literature cited.
American Ornithologists’ Union. 1998. Checklist of North American Birds, 7th ed. Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, DC.
Howell, S. N. G. and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York.
Lockwood, M. W. and B. Freeman. 2004. The TOS handbook of Texas birds. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.
Oberholser, H. C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Wauer, R. H. 1970. The occurrence of the Black-vented Oriole (Icterus wagleri) in the United States. Auk 87: 811-812.