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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Orange in the orange


This Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus) has been visiting our yard in the evenings.  He's shy, so I haven't been able to get a better picture yet — this was my first.

I was curious about the species name cucullatus.  Quite appropriately, it means "hooded."  When I was searching for the meaning, I realized there were quite a few birds, and other organisms, with "cucullatus" in their name.

This is tough, unless you're familiar with the scientific names of birds.  Can you think of other birds named cucullatus?  Or here's a small hint: other birds that are hooded?

- Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
- Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)
- Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus)
- Bronze Mannikin (Spermestes cucullatus)

I suppose it's not surprising, but I also noticed many other species with cucullatus in their name fungi, flowers, snakes, a grasshopper, a beetle, and a copepod.

Fun!

I hope the oriole comes back for another visit.

1 comment:

Peter Connors said...

Jackie, I loved your photos of the Chestnut-sided Warbler a few days ago, but this one with the oriole and the orange is one of the best ever.