The northern oriole (''Icterus galbula''), considered a species of North American bird from 1973 to 1995, brought together the eastern
Baltimore oriole
The Baltimore oriole (''Icterus galbula'') is a small icterid, 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 Flag of Maryland, coat- ...
, ''Icterus galbula'', and the western
Bullock's oriole, ''Icterus bullockii''. Observations of interbreeding between the Baltimore and the Bullock's oriole led to this classification as a single species. Research by James Rising, a professor of zoology at the University of Toronto, and others subsequently showed that the two birds did not interbreed significantly.
References
Icterus (genus)
Bird common names
Obsolete bird taxa
{{Icteridae-stub