Baltimore oriole

Baltimore oriole
Adult male
Male Baltimore oriole singing
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Icteridae
Genus:	Icterus
Species:	I. galbula
Binomial name
Icterus galbula (Linnaeus, 1758)
Range of I. galbula   Breeding range   Wintering range Note: range in Venezuela, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the rest of the Caribbean not shown
Synonyms
Coracias galbula Linnaeus, 1758 Oriolus galbula Linnaeus, 1766

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 Lord Baltimore. Observations of interbreeding between the Baltimore oriole and the western Bullock's oriole Icterus bullockii, led to both being classified as a single species, called the northern oriole, from 1973 to 1995. Research by James Rising, a professor of zoology at the University of Toronto, and others showed that the two birds actually did not interbreed significantly.^[2]

The Baltimore oriole is the state bird of Maryland, and the namesake and mascot for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.