The northern oriole (''Icterus galbula''), considered a species of North American bird from 1973 to 1995, brought together the eastern

Baltimore oriole The Baltimore oriole (''Icterus galbula'') is a small icterid blackbird common in eastern North America as a migratory breeding bird. It received its name from the resemblance of the male's colors to those on the coat-of-arms of 17th century L ...

, ''Icterus galbula'', and the western

Bullock's oriole Bullock's oriole (''Icterus bullockii'') is a small New World blackbird. At one time, this species and the Baltimore oriole were considered to be a single species, the northern oriole. This bird is named after William Bullock, an English amateur ...

, ''Icterus bullockii''. Observations of interbreeding between the Baltimore and the Bullock's oriole led to this classification as a single species. Research by James Rising, a professor of zoology at the University of Toronto, and others subsequently showed that the two birds did not interbreed significantly.

References

{{Reflist Icterus (genus) Bird common names Obsolete bird taxa