In spite of comprising more than 50% of the world's 10,000+ living species of birds, the songbirds (Passeriformes) generally have a poor fossil record. An exception is the Icteridae, with substantial Quaternary fossils at certain sites in North America, South America, and the West Indies. Here we describe 2 new extinct species of icterids from the late Pleistocene Talara Tar Seeps of northwestern Peru. The first is Icterus turmalis, based on 22 fossils (2 skeletal elements); I. turmalis was part of the radiation of “troupial”-type orioles (Icterus icterus s.l.). The second new species, Molothrus resinosus, was a large cowbird based on 15 fossils (4 skeletal elements). Icterus turmalis and Molothrus resinosus are both known thus far only from Talara. They become the second and third extinct species of icterid known from Talara, the other being Euphagus magnirostrisMiller 1929, first described from Rancho La Brea, and recorded recently from Talara as well as the Mene de Inciarte Tar Seep in Venezuela. Just as some extant species of icterids often occur today alongside large grazing mammals, the extinct species may have been closely associated with the Pleistocene large mammal community, which collapsed from 15 to 12 thousand years ago.

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