If you need help identifying birds with orange bellies in North America, then you have come to the right place. Get photos, identification help, bird calls, and what you need to know about where you might spot them and at what time of year.
All this information will really help you to identify those birds with orange bellies. So take a look and see if you can spot the bird you are looking for.
13 Birds With Orange Bellies:
1. Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Orioles are a colorful sign of spring in the east of North America, and they are members of the blackbird family. Adult males have bright orange bellies and black heads and white wing bars on their black wings.
Females are mostly dull yellow and brown. They are yellowish underneath and on their heads, grayish-brown on the wings, and brownish-yellow on their backs.
- Icterus galbula
- Length: 6.7-7.5 in (17-19 cm)
- Weight: 1.1-1.4 oz (30-40 g)
- Wingspan: 9.1-11.8 in (23-30 cm)
Baltimore Orioles breed in eastern US States and central US states, including central-southern Canadian provinces and along the southern border with the US.
For winter, they migrate to Florida, Central America, and the Caribbean, leaving as early as July.
You can find Baltimore Orioles high up in open woodland, riverbanks, and forest edges foraging for insects and fruit, and they often come to parks and backyards. They make incredible hanging bag-like nests woven from fibers.
Baltimore Orioles’ diet is insects such as beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, as well as spiders, and snails, and they help eat pest species. However, they eat a wide variety of fruits and can damage crops such as raspberries, mulberries, cherries, bananas, and oranges.
Baltimore Oriole Song:
Attract Baltimore Orioles to your yard with oranges cut in half on platform feeders or hanging from trees. Also, oriole feeders filled with sugar water and plant fruit and nectar sources such as raspberries, crab apples, and trumpet vines.
2. Hooded Oriole
Male Hooded Orioles range from bright yellow to bright orange, with black throats and backs. They have bright orange bellies, with orange heads, except for the black mask on their face and chest. They have black wings.
Females and immatures are more yellow with grayish wings. Females also lack the black face markings that males have.
- Icterus cucullatus
- Length: 7.1-7.9 in (18-20 cm)
- Weight: 0.8 oz (24 g)
- Wingspan: 9.1-11.0 in (23-28 cm)
Hooded Orioles breed in the southern US states, making hanging nests on the undersides of palm fronds. They winter in Mexico, and some remain all year on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and Central America.
Some Hooded Orioles have stopped migrating from southern US states because of the ready food supply from nectar feeders and fruit left out by birdwatchers. They live in dry open areas, especially near palm trees.
Hooded Oriole sounds: The males’ song is a jumbled mix of whistles and warbles. Females’ songs are less complex, and they both have sharp calls.
Nests of Hooded Orioles are high at around 20 feet off the ground and are hanging baskets weaved from grass and plant material.
Attract Hooded Orioles to your backyard with sugar water, jelly, and oranges.
Fun fact: Hooded Oriole males in Texas tend to be orange in color, but those further west are yellow.
3. American Redstart – Male
American Redstart males are mostly black with bright orange patches. Their heads and backs are black, and they have black running down their chests. They have orange upper bellies and flanks and orange patches on the wings and tail. Their lower belly is white.
Females are olive-gray instead of black and have yellow patches.
- Setophaga ruticilla
- Length: 4.3-5.1 in (11-13 cm)
- Weight: 0.2-0.3 oz (6-9 g)
- Wingspan: 6.3-7.5 in (16-19 cm)
American Redstarts breed in eastern US states and Canada and into northwestern US states. They may also be seen during migration in central and western US states.
You can find American Redstarts in deciduous woodlands eating insects and also in backyards and thickets eating berries such as serviceberry and magnolia.
American Redstart song: Their song drops in pitch at the end.
Nests of American Redstarts are close to the trunk in trees or large shrubs and are made from bark, grass, and other plant material. They lay up to five eggs which take just under two weeks to hatch and a week or two for the young to leave the nest.
Attract American Redstarts to your backyard with berry plants such as magnolia and serviceberry.
Fun Fact: American Redstart parents only feed certain chicks each rather than feeding them all.
4. American Robin
American Robins are a common sight on lawns eating earthworms. They have black heads and backs with red or orange breasts. They tend to roost in trees in winter, so you are more likely to see them in your backyard from spring.
- Turdus migratorius
- Length: 7.9-11.0 in (20-28 cm)
- Weight: 2.7-3.0 oz (77-85 g)
- Wingspan: 12.2-15.8 in (31-40 cm)
American Robins are residents in the lower 48 and the coast of Western Canada and Alaska. Those that breed in Canada and inland Alaska move south for the winter.
American Robins can be found in many habitats, from woodlands, forests, and mountains to fields, parks, and lawns. They eat earthworms, insects, snails, and fruit.
American Robin Song:
American Robin Call:
Attract American Robins to your backyard with sunflower seeds, suet and peanut hearts, fruit, and mealworms. Platform feeders are best or food scattered on the ground. Also, try planting some native plants that produce berries, such as juniper, sumac, hawthorn, and dogwood.
5. Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatches are blue-gray birds with black and white stripes on their heads and a rusty underside.
- Sitta canadensis
- Length: 4.3 in (11 cm)
- Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (8-13 g)
- Wingspan: 7.1-7.9 in (18-20 cm)
Red-breasted Nuthatches remain all year in northeastern and western states, Alaska and Canada but may move south in winter if cone crops are poor.
You can find Red-breasted Nuthatches in coniferous woods foraging for cones, and they also visit backyard feeders.
Red-breasted Nuthatch Call:
Attract Red-breasted Nuthatches to your backyard with black oil sunflower seeds, suet feeders, peanuts, and mealworms.
6. Black-headed Grosbeak – Male
Black-headed Grosbeaks are large songbirds with orange breasts, bellies and throats, and black wings and heads. Females are brown on the back and with brown spots on their pale orange breasts.Â
- Pheucticus melanocephalus
- Length: 7.1-7.5 in (18-19 cm)
- Weight: 1.2-1.7 oz (35-49 g)
- Wingspan: 12.6 in (32 cm)
Black-headed Grosbeaks breed in western US states and migrate to Mexico for the winter.
You can find Black-headed Grosbeaks in habitats with access to water, and they often visit backyards. Their large bills are great for crushing seeds and insects such as snails and beetles.
Black-headed Grosbeak Song:
Nests of Black-headed Grosbeaks are made from twigs, pine needles, and other plant material. They are loosely made but lined with softer material, including hair and stems. They lay up to five eggs, which take two weeks to hatch and up to two weeks for the young to leave the nest.
Attract Black-headed Grosbeaks to your backyard with sunflower seed feeders. They will also feed on oriole feeders.
Fun fact: Male Black-headed Grosbeaks court the females by singing while fluttering up and down from a perch with their wings spread to display their coloring.
7. Scarlet Tanager
Scarlet Tanagers are bright red birds with black wings and tails. However, in some light they may look orange.
Females are yellow with darker wings and tails, as are the males after molting. Their bills are thick, and they have pretty short tails.
- Piranga olivacea
- Length: 6.3-6.7 in (16-17 cm)
- Weight: 0.8-1.3 oz (23-38 g)
- Wingspan: 9.8-11.4 in (25-29 cm)
In summer, Scarlet Tanagers breed in eastern forests before migrating to western South America. They can be spotted in southeastern states during their migrations.
Scarlet Tanagers can be hard to spot as they stay high in the forest canopy, but you may see a flash of red as they walk along branches looking for insects.
Scarlet Tanager Song:
Nests of Scarlet Tanagers are built by females in only around four days from loosely woven twigs, grass, and plant material. The inside is lined with soft grass, pine needles, and other soft material. They lay around four eggs, which take two weeks to hatch and up to two weeks for the young to fledge.
Attract Scarlet Tanagers by planting berry plants such as blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, juneberries, serviceberries, mulberries, strawberries, and chokeberries.
Fun fact: Male Scarlet Tanagers have singing battles which sometimes spill over into actual fighting.
8. Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbirds are bright orange on the back and belly, a white patch below the throat, and an iridescent red throat in the males. The females are greenish-brown on the back, and rusty colored on the sides with a whitish belly.
- Length: 2.8-3.5 in (7-9 cm)
- Weight: 0.1-0.2 oz (2-5 g)
- Wingspan: 4.3 in (11 cm)
Rufous Hummingbirds are one of the longest migrating birds relative to their size, traveling up to 4000 miles each way. They breed in northwest Alaska and northwest Canada in the summer and migrate down to Mexico and the Gulf Coast for winter.
Migration of Rufous Hummingbirds is north along the Pacific Coast in spring and the Rocky Mountains in late summer and fall. Migration in the spring of Rufous Hummingbirds starts in February, and they usually reach Alaska by mid-April. Migration in the fall is in July and August and ends by October.
A study has shown that Rufous Hummingbirds start their migration earlier and travel north more inland than before.
Rufous Hummingbird numbers have declined by around 60% since the 1970s
Rufous Hummingbirds feed primarily on nectar from colorful tubular flowers and insects such as gnats, midges, and flies. They build a nest high up in trees using soft down from plants and spider webs to hold it together. They lay 2-3 tiny white eggs about 0.5 in (1.3 cm) long. Their habitat is mountain meadows and coniferous forests.
They are very aggressive and chase off any other hummingbirds that may appear, even larger hummingbirds or resident ones during migration. They won’t hang around long during migration but will still chase off most other hummingbirds given a chance.
9. Allen’s Hummingbird
Allen’s Hummingbirds look very similar to Rufous Hummingbirds, so it’s hard to tell them apart in the narrow band of coastal forest and scrub they inhabit between California and Oregon.
Male Allen’s Hummingbirds have iridescent reddish-orange throats and orange bellies, tails, and eye patches. Both males and females have long straight bills and coppery-green backs, but the females lack the bright throat coloring.
- Length: 3.5 in (9 cm)
- Weight: 0.1-0.1 oz (2-4 g)
- Wingspan: 4.3 in (11 cm)
The difference between Allen’s and Rufous Hummingbirds is the narrow outer tail feathers in Allen’s Hummingbird.
Allen’s Hummingbirds build nests near shady streams and have up to 3 broods a year. They spend winter in Mexico and migrate as early as January up to the Pacific Coast in California and Oregon, but they are most common between March and July. Some remain residents all year in central Mexico and around Los Angeles.
10. Spot-breasted Oriole
Credit: Ron Knight
Spot-breasted Orioles are black and orange birds with black spotting on their breast and white on the wing edges. They have black around the face and chest and are black on the back, wings, and tail. They have orange heads and bellies.
- Icterus pectoralis
- Length: 8.3-9.4 in (21-24 cm)
- Weight: 1.8 oz (50 g)
Spot-breasted Orioles can be found in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, but they are not very common in the US. Instead, they mostly live in Mexico and the Pacific Coast of Central America.
They live in open woodlands and dry scrub and will come to more urban areas.
Spot-breasted Oriole sounds: Their song is a tuneful series of whistles, and their calls are harsh and loud.
Attract Spot-breasted Orioles to your backyard with fruit and sugar water.
Fun fact: Nests of Spot-breasted Orioles are made from plants and fibers weaved into a long hanging pouch from a tree.
11. Flame-colored Tanager
Male Flame-colored Tanagers are brightly colored birds with orange-red coloring on their heads, chests, and bellies. They have darker wings and tails. Females are more yellow-orange.
- Length 7 – 7.5 inches (18 – 19 cm)
- Weight 1.13 – 1.71 oz (32 – 48 g).
A rare visitor to the US, the Flame-colored Tanager, has started breeding in Arizona and has been spotted in Texas. They usually inhabit woodland in Mexico and Central America. Their diet is insects and berries.
12. Varied Thrush
Varied Thrush males are birds with orange bellies and throats and black backs and with a black ‘necklace’ around the throat. The males also have orange bars on the wings and orange stripes on the sides of their black heads. Females are paler and have more brown tones on the back.
- Length: 7.5-10.2 in (19-26 cm)
- Weight: 2.3-3.5 oz (65-100 g)
- Wingspan: 13.4-15.0 in (34-38 cm)
Varied Thrush can be found along the Pacific Coast and Breed in Alaska and Northwestern Canada. Some remain all year in British Columbia and Northwestern US states along the coast. In winter, birds from Alaska and inland in Canada move south as far as California.
They are shy birds that hide in the forest looking for insects in the summer and berries and seeds in the winter.
13. Stonechat
Stonechats are only vagrants to the US and are originally from Europe and western Russia.
They are small thrushes with orange breasts and bellies. They have black heads and backs and a white collar around the neck. Female Stonechats are similar but duller.Â
They have been spotted in northwestern US states but very rarely.
