Tropical Audubon Society

South Florida’s Voice of Conservation

Not migratory, but one of the countable exotics that are a South Florida specialty. Found no where else in the U.S. I believe. Not as common in recent years and I'm not sure why.

Spot breasted oriole disappeared for several reasons. Cooper's Hawks decimated them in Broward. The freezes in 2010 were brutal on them. We had them living around some fig trees in our yard in 1977, and after the freeze we never saw them again. And they don't seem to fare well in hurricanes either. They were fairly common at my farm, nesting every yearin several places, and Wilma in 2005 destroyed that group. It would be great to see them rebound, they are beautiful, interesting birds

I would imagine the pet trade hasn't helped them out either.

I live near downtown Fort Lauderdale, and we've consistently had significant numbers of Spot-breasted Orioles here for the 18 years I've been here. I haven't noticed any decrease in numbers at all.

The one thing that I have noticed over the last two years, though, is what looks like Altamira Orioles instead. I get Orioles visiting a feeder just 5 feet from my kitchen window multiple times a day, and the last two years I've noticed that many of them completely lack any spots on the breast. These aren't just juvenile birds either. This past spring we had a pair nest and raise a chick nearby, and when it fledged, the three of them would visit the feeder together. The juvenile was bright yellow, rather than the brilliant orange of the adults, but all three were completely spotless.

These birds now seem to be more common visitors to my yard than those with spots on the breast.

I saw and photographed 2 in Miramar on Jan 10th, 2021

What do you feed them? I put an oriole feeder with jam and oranges. So far its been quiet.