Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Articles

Vol. 8 No. 3 (1977)

NOTES: NORTHERN (BULLOCK’S) ORIOLE EATS HUMMINGBIRD

Submitted
August 24, 2025
Published
July 1, 1977

Abstract

On 1 August 1976 at 1245 on South Farallon Island, California, Steve Morrell and I observed an immature or adult female Northern (Bullock’s) Oriole (Icterus galbula) eating a hummingbird (Selasphorus sp.). The oriole was perched on a dead branch near the top of an 8 m high Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa). It held the hummingbird with one foot and tore off and swallowed pieces of muscle, about 2 cm long, from the hummingbird’s back. After watching the oriole feeding for several minutes we left the area, and when I returned 15 minutes later the oriole was gone; I found no remains of the hummingbird. It is not known whether the oriole was a predator or a scavenger since we did not see how it obtained the hummingbird.

References