Yellow-tailed Oriole

How to find it

Look in dense thickets, vine tangles, cane and Heliconia stands, and in low swampy ground. Roadside trees and garden shrubs near water are also worth checking, as are banana plantations. It is not a bird of closed canopy forest, so spend your time at edges and along water instead. Birders usually notice it first by its song, then have to find it in the undergrowth. A boat ride along a river, as at Caño Negro, gives a clear view of the banks and the high perches over the water. Even then, one guided group had a single bird perched high over the river that stayed a few minutes without giving a really good look.

How to recognise it

This is the largest oriole in Costa Rica. The body is bright yellow, set off by a black throat, central breast, back and wings. The bill is thick and black. The wings carry a yellow shoulder patch, and the sexes look alike, so there is no need to sort males from females.

The feature that gives the bird its name is the tail. It is long and black with bold yellow edges, and seen from below it looks almost entirely yellow. Look up at a bird perched over a river and that yellow underside is often what you notice first.

The Costa Rican birds belong to the Caribbean lowland form, which is more orange than the yellow birds of other regions and lacks yellow edges on the tertial feathers, the inner flight feathers of the folded wing. Young birds look like adults but have olive-green on the back and tail instead of solid black, so juveniles are not black and yellow like the adults.

What it sounds like

Recording: Niels Krabbe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 5 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Yellow-tailed Oriole is seen in pairs or small groups, foraging actively. It eats mostly insects and spiders, which it finds by searching through foliage, and it sometimes also eats wild fruit. It hangs its nest from a tree branch.

It flies little and only short distances between thickets. That habit keeps it hidden in dense growth, so patience at one good spot often pays better than walking far. During the breeding season the male and female call back and forth, which can reveal a pair you would otherwise pass by.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica this oriole lives mainly in the northern zone and across the whole Caribbean slope, usually from sea level up to about 300 metres. One report places it much higher, at Lake Cabagri in the Talamanca range, around 1,000 metres, but that is an exception.

It favours swampy ground and the banks of rivers and streams, and it is very often found in dense stands of Heliconia. It also forages in thickets, vine tangles and cane, and in banana plantations, roadside trees and garden shrubs near water. Wider afield it uses woodland, clearings and brushland, and it is the one Central American oriole that likes swamps.

Similar birds

It is the only oriole with a prominent yellow tail, and the only one with a lot of yellow in the tail, which separates it from other orioles. Its size, as the largest oriole in Costa Rica, also helps. Remember that young birds are olive-green rather than black on the back and tail.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it Bolsero Coliamarillo, and the names Chorcha and Chilote are also used for it. Chorcha coliamarilla appears among Spanish names, and one Costa Rican ecosystems list gives Chiltote as another local name.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), but in Costa Rica it is rare and localized, and it appears on the national list of species in danger of extinction.

Photography tips

Because it flies little and stays in dense growth, photographing it takes patience. Boat rides along rivers give open views of the banks, though birds may perch high over the water. Listen for the song, then watch the Heliconia and thicket edges where it may come into view.