The Puerto Rican oriole (''Icterus portoricensis'') is a species of bird in the family

Icteridae Icterids () or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae (), of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The ...

, and genus ''Icterus'' or

New World blackbird Icterids () or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae (), of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The ...

s. This species is a part of a subgroup of orioles (Clade A) that includes the North American

orchard oriole The orchard oriole (''Icterus spurius'') is the smallest species of icterid. The subspecies of the Caribbean coast of Mexico, ''I. s. fuertesi'', is sometimes considered a separate species, the ochre oriole or Fuertes's oriole. Description Mea ...

, ''Icterus spurius'', and the

hooded oriole The hooded oriole (''Icterus cucullatus'') is a medium-sized New World oriole. The male of this species ranges in color from a bright orange to a paler yellow, with a black back, face, tail and bib, with the wing containing two white bars. The fe ...

, ''Icterus cucullatus''. The Puerto Rican oriole was previously grouped with

Cuban oriole The Cuban oriole (''Icterus melanopsis'') is a species of songbird in the family Icteridae. It is endemic to Cuba. Adults measure long with a 10 cm (3.9 in) wing length. They are black with yellow patches on the shoulders, underwings ...

(''Icterus melanopsis''),

Hispaniolan oriole The Hispaniolan oriole (''Icterus dominicensis'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti). Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin ...

(''Icterus dominicensis''), and

Bahama oriole The Bahama oriole (''Icterus northropi'') is a species of songbird in the New World blackbird family Icteridae (the orioles). It is endemic to the Bahamas, and listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List. Taxonomy The species was originally classif ...

(''Icterus northropi'') as a single species, (''Icterus dominicensis''). In 2010, all four species became recognized as full species by the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

Habitat

The oriole is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are the tropical

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, mangrove forests, and

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s. The bird also shows a natural preference for nesting in palm trees.Jaramillo, A., P. Burke. 1999. New World Blackbirds. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Behavior

After breeding, adult Puerto Rican orioles and their young will remain together in a family group. It primarily forages in dense vegetation looking for a wide range of foods that includes fruits, insects, lizards, and nuts and grains.

Description

Males and females are similar in size and color. Males weigh about 41.0 grams and females weigh about 36.6 g. The average wingspan of males and females is 96.9 and 92.1 mm, respectively.Garrido, O., J. Wiley, A. Kirkconnell. 2005. Genus Icterus in the West Indies. Ornitologia Neotropical, 16: 449-470. In 2008, Hofmann, Cronin, and Omland, conducted a study that showed there is little color difference in the

feathers Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier e ...

between the males and females of many tropical orioles, including the Puerto Rican oriole. This means that males and females both have elaborate colors, in contrast many temperate-zoned birds have brightly colored males and dull colored females. Adults are black with yellow on their lower belly and shoulder. The closely related

(''Icterus dominicensis'') and

(''Icterus northropi'') have more yellow on their bodies, but, the

(''Icterus melanopsis'') has more black. Juveniles are tawny colored with an olive tint to their rump. Puerto Rican orioles develop their bright colors as they age. The tawny color offers a selective advantage to the adolescents since by helping with camouflage in the dense forest. This is likely the

ancestral state In phylogenetics, a primitive (or ancestral) character, trait, or feature of a lineage or taxon is one that is inherited from the common ancestor of a clade (or clade group) and has undergone little change since. Conversely, a trait that appears ...

for the genus ''Icterus''.

Communication

Both males and females of the Puerto Rican oriole sing with no obvious difference in song structure. The

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

of the Puerto Rican oriole is composed of clicks or “high pitched whistles” and has a frequency range between 3.6 and 5.3

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

. The bird combines between 15 and 27 different notes to make up their song. Due to gender and geographic bias in studying predominantly male samples of

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

-zone birds, which do not exhibit female song, it has historically been assumed that only males of the Puerto Rican orioles sing. However, in 2009, Price, Lanyon, and Omland conducted a study that shows that both males and females of many tropical orioles sing. This has been substantiated by 2016 documentation of female song in Puerto Rican orioles by Campbell et al., proving that song is not a method of communication solely possessed by males.Campbell, S.K., A.L. Morales-Perez, J.F. Malloy, O.C. Muellerklein, J.A. Kim, K.J. Odom, and K.E. Omland. 2016. Documentation of female song in a newly recognized species, the Puerto Rican Oriole (Icterus portoricensis). Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 29:28–36 The research theorizes that the prevalence of female song correlates to a tropical lifestyle wherein there is increased female-female competition and territory defense that necessitates such communication. Additionally, ancestral state reconstruction of the Caribbean oriole clade shows that female song is an ancestral trait.

Reproduction

Most members of this genus are thought to be

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...

, establishing lifelong bonds between males and females. The Puerto Rican oriole breeds primarily from February through July. It lays about three eggs per clutch. The eggs are white with a bluish hue with light lavender-gray-brown speckles and spots. The nests are structured as a basket made from woven fibers of palm material, and are usually suspended from the underside of a palm leaf by two points. One threat to oriole nesting is parasitism by the

shiny cowbird The shiny cowbird (''Molothrus bonariensis'') is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America except for dense forests and areas of high altitude such as mountains. Since 1900 the shiny cowbird's range ha ...

, especially in coastal habitats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3726814

Puerto Rican oriole The Puerto Rican oriole (''Icterus portoricensis'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, and genus ''Icterus'' or New World blackbirds. This species is a part of a subgroup of orioles (Clade A) that includes the North American orchard o ...

Endemic birds of Puerto Rico