Colorado is home to a many different orange birds or birds with a significant amount of orange on their body. In this article I’ll be going over 7 different birds that fit this description and can be found within Colorado.

• American Robin 
• Red Breasted Nuthatch 
• Roufous Hummingbird
• Bullock’s Oriole 
• Orchard Oriole 
• Spotted Towhee 
• Black Headed Grosbeak 

7 Orange Birds In Colorado

1. American Robin (Turdus Migratorius)

• Size: 12.5 – 14cm
• Weight: 16 – 22 grams
• Wingspan: 20 – 22cm

You’ll be able to spot American robins in Colorado all throughout the year. 

These robins are recognised by their gray wings, back and tail, black head, yellow beak and orange belly/breast. Females have a far duller color scheme where the plumage that is black is mostly gray whilst the breast is a lighter orange tint.

American robins are often seen around woodlands, suburban backyards, parks, and grasslands with shrubs.

As for what they eat, it includes fruits, seeds, suet, crushed peanuts, sunflower hearts, raisins and a variety of insects like beetles, flies, worms, etc.

American robins have a lifespans of around 2 years on average, though some have been known to live up to 5 or 6 years.

2. Red Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta Canadensis)

• Size: 11 – 13cm
• Weight: 9 – 13 grams
• Wingspan: 18 – 22cm

Red breasted nuthatches are year round residents in the northern and eastern regions of Colorado and are non-breeding residents in the remainder of the state. 

These Nuthatches have rusty orange colored breast feathers, gray wings and back, with a vertical black and white striped pattern on their head. Females are very similar in color scheme but, their plumage does look duller and more washed out.

You can find a red breasted nuthatch around coniferous forests of spruce, fir, pine, hemlock, larch, and western red cedar.

As for what they eat, it includes insects and seeds where they mostly eat spiders in the summer whilst around winter they chow down on a variety of different seeds, especially seeds in conifers.

The lifespan of red breasted nuthatch is around 6 years on average.

3. Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus Rufus)

• Size: 7 – 9cm
• Weight: 2 – 5 grams
• Wingspan: 11 – 12cm

Rufous hummingbirds don’t stay in Colorado but, can be spotted making their migratory passage to the western part of the state towards an ideal environment to breed. 

These hummingbirds are recognised by their mostly orange body with a white breasts, and a mixture of darker brown and white wings. Females on the other hand have hints of orange on their body but are mostly gray with a white breast and belly area.

You’ll often spot rufous hummingbirds around open or shrubby areas, forest openings, yards, and parks, and sometimes in forests, thickets, swamps, and meadows from sea level to about 6,000 feet.

They’ll typically consume the same as what most other hummingbirds would eat such as smaller insects, nectar from flowers, sugar water from feeders and even tree sap.

Rufous hummingbirds are known to live for up to 8 years and 11 months, which is also the longest recorded lifespan.

4. Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus Bullockii)

• Size: 17 – 19cm
• Weight: 29 – 43 grams
• Wingspan: 31cm

You’ll be able to spot bullock’s orioles all across Colorado in breeding season. As is typical for most other birds, this will encompass the spring and summer months. 

Bullock’s orioles are recognised by a large white patch on their black wings, a yellow/orange covering of feathers around the breast with a few black streaks around their face and a silver/gray beak black beak.

These orioles tend to spend the most of their time within forest edges, farmyards, leafy suburbs, isolated groves, and streamside woods that are particularly based around cottonwood trees.

Bullock’s orioles are known to live upwards of 12 years in the wild whilst captive bullock’s orioles have been recorded living up till 14 years of age.

Throughout their relatively short lives, these black and yellow birds will consume mostly seeds insects, berries and nectar.

5. Orchard Oriole (Icterus Spurious)

• Size: 15 – 18cm
• Weight: 16 – 28 grams
• Wingspan: 23 – 27cm

You’ll often find orchard orioles in the northeastern region of Colorado around the spring and summer breeding months.

Orchard orioles tend have an orange breast and belly with their neck, head and a back black in color. Females are almost completely yellow with elements of of gray throughout their body.

They will often be located around semi-open habitats with deciduous trees and open space, including riverside trees, orchards, suburbs, forest edges, forest clearings and prairie groves. 

Orchard orioles also eat a bunch of different food sources such as insects, nectar from flowers, sugar water from feeders and a number of other smaller berries and fruits.

Orchard orioles tend to live for around 11 years in the wild.

6. Spotted Towhee (Pipilo Maculatus)

• Size: 17 – 21cm
• Weight: 33 – 49 grams
• Wingspan: 27 – 31cm

Spotted towhees are year round residents in the southern and southwest border of the state whilst further north they’ll only remain when breeding. 

These towhees are recognised by their black, white and rusty orange plumage where the sides of their breast appear to be orange, the middle of the belly and breast white, the wings black with a spotted white pattern and lastly the back, head and tail feathers black in color. Females look similar to the males but are grayish brown in color.

You’ll often find a spotted towhee around open woods, undergrowth, brushy edges generally living within chaparral, mountain manzanita thickets, scrub oaks, or pinyon-juniper woods with dense understory.

A spotted towhees diet isn’t all that different from the majority of birds where they will consume mostly smaller insects, seeds, berries and other smaller cultivated fruits.

Spotted towhee are known to have a lifespan of around 11 years at the top end of their life expectancy

7. Black Headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus Melanocephalus)

• Size: 18 – 19cm
• Weight: 34 – 48 grams
• Wingspan: 30 – 34cm

Black headed grosbeaks can be found in most of Colorado when they breed. 

These grosbeaks are recognised by their black, orange and white plumage with their wings and head black with elements of white, the remainder of their body from neck to belly is orange whilst they also have a triangular black beak. Females are far duller in color with the black wings a more orange/gray color and the rest of the body a washed out orange.

Black headed grosbeaks can be found near broadleaved or mixed forests where they will inhabit brushy, riparian areas, shrubs within conifer, streamside corridors, wetlands and suburban areas. 

In regards to what these birds eat, it includes mostly insects like caterpillars, flies, snails, bees, berries like blueberries,, strawberries, blackberries, a variety of seeds like seeds of weed and plants like mistletoe and poison oak.

Black headed grosbeaks will typically live between 7 – 8 years in the wild although the longest lifespan we’re aware of is in the 24 year range.