Orange can be found in many hues in nature, from bright and bold to rusty or rufous. There are quite a few types of orange birds in every region of the United States. Continue reading to learn about the habitat, location, and behavior of 15 species of orange colored birds.
15 Types of Orange Birds
Here are 15 types of orange birds that can be spotted in the United States.
1. American Woodcock
Scientific name: Scolopax minor
Spot this ground-dwelling shorebird in the forests of the eastern United States. Its chest and sides are a dusky rusty-orange, and its back is mottled with brown, gray, and black to blend with the forest floor.
You’re not likely to see this bird at your feeder, but they are common near waterways and young forests. Keep an eye out at dusk in the springtime, though. You might even see the male display in a performance known as a “sky dance.”
2. Baltimore Oriole
Scientific name: Icterus galbula
The Baltimore Oriole is a regular spring and summer visitor to the East and Midwest. Males have bright orange feathers with a black head and back. Their bright colors certainly make them stand out among the green leaves of the tree tops they forage through looking for insects.
Try attracting them to your yard during their spring migration with fresh fruit, such as oranges.
3. Flame-colored Tanager
Scientific name: Piranga bidentata
The male Flame-colored Tanager gives the species its name, with a bright orange body and gray wings. Females have some orange in the face but are mainly yellow. This species mainly lives in Mexico and Central America, however they occasionally visit across the border into Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas.
This tanager can be enticed into a backyard with freshly cut fruit, especially oranges.
4. Orchard Oriole
Scientific name: Icteris spurius
This songbird’s orange feathers are located on its chest, belly, and tail. Only the male is orange; the female’s feathers are yellow-green and gray. Their orange hue is a deeper shade than some other orioles, a more rusty, brown hued orange.
Look for the Orchard Oriole in the East and Midwest during the summer months. They prefer to comb the forests for insects over visiting feeders.
5. Red-breasted Nuthatch
Scientific name: Sitta canadensis
The Red-breasted Nuthatch has similar colors to a Robin, with its gray back and orange belly, but is much smaller and differently shaped. This tree-dwelling songbird that hunts insects among branches and leaves. They are unique among songbirds because they are the only bird that climbs head-first down trees.
Look for orange feathers on the nuthatch’s breast and belly. The black and white striped head also helps them stand out. They can be found across Canada, parts of the western U.S. and New England all year, and spread to the rest of the U.S. during the winter months.
6. Carolina Wren
Scientific name: Thryothorus ludovicianus
Carolina Wrens are a regular fixture in the woods of the eastern United States. Extremely loud and easy to recognize, they pluck insects from the ground in thickets and on lawns. They have a warm chestnut brown back, light eyebrow, and rusty orange breast and belly.
In the winter, offer suet for these songbirds. They also like to shelter in nest boxes or potted plants hung up in quiet areas.
7. Varied Thrush
Scientific name: Ixoreus naevius
If you think the Varied Thrush looks similar to a Robin, it may not surprise you to learn they are both members of the thrush family. The Varied thrush has a warm orange throat, belly, eyebrow, and wingbars that pop against their gray head and back.
In the summer, you can find them in Alaska, Western Canada and parts of Idaho and Montana. The move further south along the Pacific coast in the winter. They prefer dense forests and eat insects found among leaf litter.
8. Rufous Hummingbird
Scientific name: Selasphorus rufus
Rufous Hummingbirds are as feisty as they are bright orange. Both sexes are territorial and unafraid of challenging larger hummingbirds for access to flowers and feeders. They breed the farthest north of any hummingbird species, all the way up to the southern tip of Alaska.
Females are pale with buffy sides, while adult males are almost entirely orange, with a white breast and some green speckling on their back. In the fall, they return to the western coast of Mexico.
9. Barn Swallow
Scientific name: Hirundo rustica
A dynamic mix of royal blue and rich orange-brown, the Barn Swallow is well-adapted to human-made structures. They build their nests of mud and grass along the eaves of barns, buildings, and bridges.
These common swallows can be found across most of the U.S. and Canada during the summer, then head south of the border in the winter. They are acrobatic fliers that swoop over fields catching insects in mid-air.
10. American Redstart
Scientific name: Setophaga ruticilla
The American Redstart is a member of the warbler family. Only males have bright orange patches on their wings, tail, and breast. They spend the spring and summer in a swath of territory ranging from the Northwest to the Northeast and the Southeast. Many states in the midwest and west may spot them a they migrate through in the spring and fall.
Attract them to your yard by planting summer-fruiting berry vines.
11. Bullock’s Oriole
Scientific name: Icterus bullockii
The western United States is the summer home of the Bullock’s Oriole. These fruit-eating songbirds that have bright orange bodies and black and white wings and tails.
You might see the carefully-woven hanging nest of a Bullock’s Oriole in the spring. These birds will stop by yards for sugar water and are known to visit hummingbird feeders.
12. Eastern Towhee
Scientific name: Pipilo erythrophthalmus
It’s hard to forget the iconic call of the Eastern Towhee – the “chewink” or “tow-hee” sound is hard to forget once you’ve heard it. This bird lives in the eastern United States. It resides year-round in the states south of the Mason-Dixon line and spends just the spring and summer in states north of that line.
If you live in the west, you can see the Spotted Towhee, which looks extremely similar.
Males and females have patches of rusty orange feathers on the sides of their bellies. The male’s patches are more orange, and the female’s are more brown.
13. Black-headed Grosbeak
Scientific name: Pheucticus melanocephalus
Another western songbird, this grosbeak makes its home along the whole of the west coast, mountain ranges, and Southwest. Males have clear delineation between black and orange patches. Females are more mottled, with dusky orange feathers at the nape and chest.
While they can be lured to yards with sunflower seeds, they’re also fond of sugar water found in hummingbird feeders.
14. Allen’s Hummingbird
Scientific name: Selasphorus ssin
The spring and summer months are time for the Allen’s Hummingbird to dominate its thin stretch of territory along the Pacific Coast. Like their rufous cousins, the adult males of this species are also bright orange.
Allen’s Hummingbirds come readily to backyards with nectar-producing flowers or hummingbird feeders. They migrate to the coast as early as January, long before other species of hummingbirds.
15. Blackburnian Warbler
Scientific name: Setophaga fusca
Blackburnian Warblers are a pretty sight to see in the woods of New England and the Midwest. These spring and summer migrants search for insects along the branches and leaves of the tops of trees.
While females are yellow and gray, males are more colorful. With a dark gray and white back, males have a bright orange throat and facial stripes.
They don’t eat seeds, but they might visit your backyard if you have tall trees and install a bird bath or a moving water feature.
Anna is a wildlife biologist who graduated from Texas A&M in 2020. She enjoys feeding, studying, and taking photos of wild birds and hummingbirds. She once worked as the hummingbird department manager at a Wild Birds Unlimited store.