Streak-backed Oriole

How to find it

Start in the dry lowlands of Guanacaste, where the bird is said to occur in most parts. Scan the edges and canopy of deciduous and gallery forest, then check scrub with scattered trees, hedgerows and roadsides. Listen for the clear whistled song and the soft 'wheet' calls. Acacias holding stinging ants are worth a look, since the pendant nest is often hung there. Palo Verde National Park and Las Catalinas are places where visitors have photographed it.

How to recognise it

A streaked back is the key mark in every plumage.

The body is bright yellow-orange, deeper orange on the head. The wings and tail are mostly black. Both sexes have a black throat patch, and males are richer in colour than females, though in Costa Rica the two look almost alike.

The bird is about 19 cm long. The bill is black with a bluish-grey base on the lower half, and the legs are bluish grey.

Juveniles look different. They are olive above with heavy but blurry black streaking on the back, and a dull greenish yellow below.

What it sounds like

Recording: Mike Ostrowski, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Pairs stay together for most of the year, and after breeding they form family groups. Elsewhere in its range it is seen alone or in small groups, often with other orioles.

The nest is a hanging, pear-shaped bag 25 to 50 cm long. It is often placed on a sloping branch of an acacia holding stinging ants. A lodge in Guanacaste notes that the bird hangs pendant nests, like an oropendola.

One observer in Guanacaste saw only a single oriole in an area, even in nesting season, so do not count on many at once.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica this is a bird of the northern Pacific lowlands, climbing to about 450 m near the Cordillera de Guanacaste. It uses edges and canopy of deciduous and gallery forest, savannas, scrub with scattered trees, Parkinsonia swamps, hedgerows and roadsides.

Around Las Catalinas it is linked to tropical dry forest, open woodland, forest edges, gardens and areas with scattered trees. Near Pinilla it was recorded in tropical dry forest on the Pacific slope.

When to see it

Breeding is given as May and June, and a Costa Rican town site says the main nesting period falls earlier in the year.

Similar birds

The Spot-breasted Oriole (chorcha in Spanish) shows less white in the wing than the Streak-backed. Compared with the Hooded Oriole, the Streak-backed is bulkier, has a straighter bill and more white edging on the wing, and a female Hooded lacks the black throat. An Altamira Oriole, if one ever reaches Costa Rica, could easily be mistaken for this species or the Spot-breasted. Altamira shows a small grey patch at the base of a stout bill and has no breast spots.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it bolsero, chorcha and chiltote, with chiltote tied mainly to Guanacaste, especially the Nicoya peninsula. A National Archive photo from Colorado district, Abangares, Guanacaste, carries the names Chilchote, Chilto, Chorchín and Chorcha.

Status and conservation

Listed as resident (R) on the AOCR list and rated Least Concern with a large and stable population, though considered uncommon in Costa Rica and common in northern Central America.

Photography tips

One photographer shot Guanacaste birds with a 200-400 mm lens, which suggests a long telephoto helps.