Summary

  • Natural history: Orchard Orioles sit at the very edge of their breeding range in Vermont, where the state’s first confirmed nesting, near Brattleboro around 1907, was followed by more than sixty years without another record. Sightings have surged since the 1970s even as Vermont’s farmland has shrunk and its forests matured, seemingly the opposite of what this farm-loving oriole should prefer, a pattern researchers attribute to the bird’s willingness to nest in suburban yards and shrubby edges instead of open fields.
  • Status in VT: Increased by 400% (0 to 4 blocks). Greatest increase in Champlain Valley.
  • Data from other research: No additional data for VT.
  • Conservation status: State rank S2B
  • Other atlases: NY: 74%;PA: 96%; ON: increase
  • VT’s role in North American range: VT is within the northeastern corner of the range.
  • Causes of change since first Atlas: Increase in early-successional habitat in the past, and increase in suburban environments more recently, both following farmland abandonment (?).
  • Management/Monitoring recommendations: No current recommendations.

First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)

Species Account

Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)

Species Account

Orchard Oriole Map 1Orchard Oriole Table 1Orchard Oriole Table 2

Change in Distribution

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Orchard Oriole Map 2Orchard Oriole Table 3

Links

Vermont eBird

Encyclopedia of Life

All About Birds