Birds, Butterflies, Wildlife and More : 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.