Since 2004 · Licensed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)

Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus prosthemelas)
Photo: Viktor, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist
Black-cowled Oriole

Family Icteridae

Black-cowled Oriole

Icterus prosthemelas

In Spanish: Bolsero Capuchinegro (Chorcha del Platanar, Cacique Amarillo)

  • Resident

Yellow and black oriole of banana groves and fruit feeders

The Black-cowled Oriole is a medium-sized yellow and black oriole, and in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica it is a fairly common resident. Costa Ricans call it Bolsero Capuchinegro, and also Chorcha del Platanar, the banana-grove chorcha.

It comes readily to fruit feeders stocked with papaya, ripe plantain and banana, which makes it a friendly first oriole for a beginning birder.

How to find it

Fruit feeders in the Caribbean lowlands are an easy way to see it, usually stocked with papaya, ripe plantain and banana. Banana plantations are worth scanning, where a group of more than ten once sat on top of trees in the rain. Fruiting trees at forest edges early in the day can also work. Watching for it by sight is often better than waiting for song, and mixed-species flocks are a good place to look.

How to recognise it

Adult males are mostly black with bright yellow on the shoulder, rump, lower breast, thighs and under the tail. A thin chestnut wash lies between the black and yellow on the breast. It is a medium-sized oriole with a slightly curved black bill, a silvery base to the lower bill and grayish legs. In Costa Rica males and females tend to look alike. Young birds have a dull black forehead, face and throat, with blackish wings and tail, dull olive-yellow upperparts and dull yellow underparts. The tail is dark and there are no wing bars, which helps separate it from similar orioles.

What it sounds like

0:07

Recording: d99, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It searches foliage for insects and spiders and sometimes hangs upside down to pick prey from the underside of palm leaves. It also eats fruit and catkins of Cecropia trees and takes nectar from banana and Inga flowers. It forages mostly at mid-levels. The nest is a pouch of pale fibers hung under a large leaf of banana, palm or similar plants, from 1.5 to 11 m up, and sometimes under house eaves.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is a fairly common resident across the Caribbean lowlands. It climbs locally to about 700 m and occasionally strays up to 1200 m. It lives in humid and semihumid forest, clearings, edges and open areas with scattered trees. In forest it is usually found along waterways. It likes plantations, especially banana, and palms. In the early 2000s it spread to the Pacific slope, with scattered reports from the central and southern lowlands.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica runs from March to July.

Similar birds

A young male Orchard Oriole is smaller, with wing bars and a paler tail, while this bird has a dark tail and no wing bars. The Yellow-tailed Oriole shows yellow in the tail in every plumage and is much larger.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Spanish name is Bolsero Capuchinegro. Costa Rican lists also give Chorcha del Platanar (banana-grove chorcha) and Cacique Amarillo, which one Costa Rican bird site says is the name used in the Caribbean zone.

Status and conservation

It is listed as a resident (R) on the official Costa Rican bird list, and the IUCN rates it Least Concern.

Photography tips

It is a quiet species that can be hard to hear, so watch for it by sight. It often moves in pairs or small groups and joins mixed-species flocks, so check any flock of other birds. Feeders give the easiest views.

How we know this 21 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-cowled_oriole
  2. Aves de Costa Rica read 2026-11-04http://www.avesdecostarica.com/Icterus-prosthemelas.html
  3. Birda read 2026-11-04https://app.birda.org/species-guide/35337/Black-cowled_Oriole
  4. Cornell Birds of the World read 2026-11-04https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/bkcori/cur/introduction
  5. El Ecoturista read 2026-11-04https://elecoturista.com/internacional/costa-rica-un-destino-ornitologico-top-i-tortuguero/
  6. YouTube read 2026-11-04https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9HrBKQbi5M
  7. Kiddle (Wikipedia-based) read 2026-11-04https://kids.kiddle.co/Black-cowled_oriole
  8. Lista Oficial de las Aves de Costa Rica read 2026-11-04https://listaoficialavesdecostarica.wordpress.com/lista-oficial/lista-oficial-online/
  9. Birding Craft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/tag/black-cowled-oriole/
  10. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/crh17a.html
  11. Birding Craft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2010/12/29/a-day-of-birding-at-arenal-costa-rica/
  12. Eagle-Eye Tours read 2026-11-04https://www.eagle-eye.com/blog/costa-rica-sampler-2022-trip-report/
  13. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos16.html
  14. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cr217.html
  15. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos15.html
  16. Birds for Beer read 2026-11-04https://birdsforbeer.com/2021/06/12/black-cowled-oriole/
  17. Oiseaux.net read 2026-11-04https://www.oiseaux.net/birds/black-cowled.oriole.html
  18. Grateful Gnome read 2026-11-04https://gratefulgnome.com/blogs/news/black-cowled-oriole
  19. Animal Diversity Web read 2026-11-04https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Icterus_prosthemelas/
  20. Animalia.bio read 2026-11-04https://animalia.bio/black-cowled-oriole
  21. BirdForum Opus read 2026-11-04https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-cowled_Oriole