On 28 September John Yerger found an ABA Code-4, subadult male Streak-backed Oriole (Icterus pustulatus) above the water feature (this specific area is closed to the public) at Quailway Cottage, Portal, Arizona. It was seen again very briefly on 2 October.
A resident along Mexico’s Pacific slope to northwestern Costa Rica, Streak-backed Oriole first bred in the ABA Area near Dudleyville, Arizona, in 1993 and again at this location in 1994, 1998, and 2002. It is casual in California but accidental elsewhere including two records from New Mexico; one was seen coming to sumptuosly stocked feeders by hundreds of birders in Loveland, Colorado, 8 December 2007 to 2 January 2008; two reports came from Texas (a male at Brazos Bend State Park and a female at El Paso). Exceptional was an immature male Streak-backed Oriole near Mercer, Wisconsin, during the first two weeks of January 1998. The Wisconsin bird was initially rejected by their records committee because of uncertain provenance (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al.).
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