33) INDIAN GOLDEN ORIOLE (Oriolus kundoo)

Indian golden Oriole VanVihar

Indian Golen Oriole Van Vihar

33)  Indian Golden Oriole (Oriolus kundoo)

At Van Vihar National Park, Bhopal came across Indian Golden Oriole many times. I saw it in pairs but generally on higher branches of the tree and not on ground level. 

Many a time, it flew past me before I could focus my camera on it. Once I saw a male on a Ficus tree and female on a nearby Neem tree at my residence at Arera Hills.

As the name suggest the overall colour of the bird is bright golden yellow. It looks attractive. It may more or less of the size of a pigeon.

As per the Wikipedia, the Indian Golden Oriole populations in India are largely resident. It has more yellow in the tail and has a paler shade of red in the iris and bill.

Indian Golden Oriole Vanvihar

The male has the black eye stripe extending behind the eye, a large carpal patch on the wing and wide yellow tips to the secondaries and tertiaries. The female has  streaks on the underside.

The Indian golden oriole inhabits a range of habitats including open deciduous forests, semi-evergreen forests, woodland, forest edge, mangroves, and open country with scattered trees, parks, gardens orchards and plantations.

Indian Golden Oriole (Male ?) on ficus tree Arera Hills

Orioles feed on fruits, nectar and insects. The breeding season is April to August, the nest being a small cup placed in a fork near the end of a branch. Nests are often built in the vicinity of the nest of a black drongo.

Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp and Birds of South Asia, The Ripley guide by Pamela C. Rasmussen and John C Anderton have also given a similar description of the said bird.

Indian Golden Oriole (Female?) Arera Hills

Reference:  

1) Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp

2) Birds of South Asia, The Ripley guide by Pamela C. Rasmussen and John C Anderton

3) The Wikipedia :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_golden_oriole

32) JACOBIN CUCKOO (Clamator jacobinus) or PIED CUCKOO

32) JACOBIN CUCKOO (Clamator jacobinus) or Pied Cuckoo 

On 21st June 2016,  I took photographs of Jacobin Cuckoo or Pied Cuckoo at the end of my early morning walk inside Van Vihar National Park at Bhopal.

I saw it perched on a branch inside a shrub just adjacent to the road. It was on the lookout for something, unmindful of onlookers and gave me enough time to take these photographs though many small branches of the shrub were coming in the way of photography.

I informed Dr Sangeeta Ragir of Bhopal Birds about the sighting of this bird later. She said that Pied Cuckoo is a migratory bird. Generally, it is said to migrate from South Africa to India to coincide with the onset of Monsoon in India. In North India, the Pied Cuckoo is generally called as "Chatak" in the local language. 

Her feedback increased my curiosity to find out more about the bird, as I was wondering how it is able to cross the vast Arabian Sea to migrate from South Africa to India, to be in time for the monsoon.


According to the Wikipedia, this bird is partially migratory. It has been considered a harbinger of the monsoon in India due to the timing of its arrival. It has been associated with a bird known as the chatak (Sanskrit: चातक) in Indian mythology and poetry.The subspecies serratus (Sparrman, 1786) is a summer breeding visitor to northern India and is believed to migrate to southern Africa. 


The bird is widespread resident and partial migrant in India.  It is resident in southern India and summer visitor to Northern India according to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp. 


The winter ranges of this bird are not known completely as per Birds of South Asia, the Ripley guide by Pamela C Rasmussen and John C Anderton.

As per Wikipedia the east African population of Pied Cuckoo is migratory and moves over southern Arabia into India during April. It prefers thorny, dry scrub or open woodland habitat. It avoids dense forest areas or extremely dry environments.

Like other Cuckoos this one is also said to lay its eggs in the nest of other birds. 

It seems though this bird is commonly found and noticed in India, its migratory and breeding pattern of this bird are not studied fully.

Reference:-
1)Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp
2)Birds of South Asia, the Ripley guide by Pamela C Rasmussen and John C Anderton
3) Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_cuckoo

31) ORIENTAL PRATINCOLE (Glareola maldivarum)

31) Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum) 

I had visited Dahod Water Reservoir near Mandideep, Bhopal along with Dr Sangeeta Rajgir and Md Khalique of Bhopal Birds to watch Saras Crane in the month of May 2016.

We went there early in the morning. it was really a hot day. The reservoir was more or less dry with few patches of water in few places. 

We came across this bird while ambling through the dry reservoir bed in search of Saras Crane.

I am seeing this bird for the first time in my life.

I read that the Oriental Pratincole catches its insect prey on the wing. It also feeds on the ground. 

These birds are said to be birds of open country and are often seen near water.

These birds have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails. The back and head are brown. Its wings are brown with black flight feathers. The belly is white. The underwings are chestnut.

These Pratincoles are found in warmer parts of south and east Asia. Its breeding areas are said to be in North Pakistan, Kashmir and China.

 It lays about 2–3 eggs on the ground. It migrates to, wintering in both India and Pakistan in winter.

I guess that the said specimen might have overstayed or stayed back for breeding as Oriental Pratincole is said to be winter visitor in India.