Birdfinding.info ⇒ Fairly common in the resort areas around Punta Cana. On the main birdwatching circuit in the Dominican Republic, it can be found in the Caño Hondo portion of Los Haitises National Park, around Puerto Escondido (near the Rabo de Gato Trail and Zapotén Road), and along the coast from Barahona to Oviedo.
Hispaniolan Oriole
Icterus dominicensis
Endemic to Hispaniola and some of its satellite islands (Gonâve, Tortue, Île-a-Vache, and Saona), where it is generally uncommon in lowlands and foothills in various woodland edge and semiopen habitats. Locally common mainly in certain areas where palms are predominant, including some seaside resorts and urban areas.
Appears to be most numerous on the Haitian Peninsula and east to Barahona, and separately in the eastern coastal lowlands of the Dominican Republic from Puerto Plata to Cap Cana. Uncommon or localized across the rest of Hispaniola, except that it is mostly absent from upper elevations.
Identification
Adult is black with yellow shoulders, rump, and belly.
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Dominican Republic; March 31, 2018.) © Kenny Diaz
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Dominican Republic; August 19, 2012.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Samaná, Dominican Republic; June 27, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Del Este National Park, Dominican Republic.) © magloor
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; January 21, 2010.) © Mort
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Dominican Republic; April 18, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Oriole, showing extensively yellow rump and lower back. (Zanglais d’Aquin, Haiti; December 13, 2017.) © Richard Dunn
Hispaniolan Oriole. (Dominican Republic; April 16, 2014.) © Dax M. Román E.
Immature plumage is olive overall, with blackish wings, tail, face, and throat. Often has a chestnut hood that can extend over much of the breast.
Hispaniolan Oriole, immature. (Puerto Escondido, Dominican Republic; January 25, 2016.) © Kenny Diaz
Hispaniolan Oriole, immature with extensive chestnut hood. (Dominican Republic; April 14, 2014.) © Dax Román E.
Hispaniolan Oriole, immature. (Dominican Republic; March 31, 2018.) © Kenny Diaz
Hispaniolan Oriole, molting into adult plumage. (Dominican Republic; April 16, 2014.) © Dax Román E.
Voice. Song is a complex series of whistles delivered rapidly:
Notes
Monotypic species.
Formerly considered conspecific with Bahama, Cuban, and Puerto Rican Orioles, collectively known as the “Greater Antillean Oriole” (Icterus dominicensis). “Greater Antillean,” in turn, was considered conspecific with the Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus prosthemelas) of Central America, collectively known as the Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus dominicensis). The basis for lumping these species together was never self-evident. The adults are visually distinct and have different songs, and the immature and intermediate plumages are even more different-looking.
Genetic studies have confirmed that most members of this group are more closely related to other species than they are to one another: the Central American Black-cowled is more closely related to Orchard Oriole; Puerto Rican is more closely related to the three Lesser Antillean orioles (Montserrat, Martinique, and St. Lucia); and Hispaniolan is most closely related to the combined Puerto Rican and Lesser Antillean group. Among the five species formerly lumped together as the “Black-cowled Oriole,” only Cuban and Bahama are a discrete phylogenetic pair, although ironically these are the most different from one another visually: Cuban being the blackest and Bahama the yellowest.
References
eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed October 18, 2018.)
Fraga, R. 2018. Hispaniolan Oriole (Icterus dominicensis). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/62270. (Accessed October 18, 2018.)
Jaramillo, A., and P. Burke. 1999. New World Blackbirds: The Icterids. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.