ORIOLE 1/4 - Black-naped Oriole

Black-naped Oriole

Black-naped Oriole is a very common bird ("lup sup bird") to see flying amongst trees along roads and garden parks in the suburb and urban landscape. Nevertheless, they are not birds of the deep forest. Originally from coastal woodlands and mangroves, they have adapted to cultivated areas and parks and gardens. They usually keep to the middle storey and canopy of trees and seldom comes to the ground. They are very vocal birds with loud call cracking & hissing which I do not think is melodious. They are more often seen in a pair and likely together for their entire life.

The Black-naped Oriole is medium sized about 27cm and overall royal yellow with a strong pinkish bill and a broad black mask and nape. The adult male has the central tail feathers tipped yellow and the lateral ones are more broadly yellow. The female has the mantle colour more greenish or olive. The juvenile has a streaked underside. The nestling has dull greenish with brown streaks. The head and nape are more yellowish and the undertail coverts are yellow. Several variations exist in the populations that have been separated as subspecies.

Black-naped Orioles have been recorded to feed on a range of berries of Ficus and others apart from insects. There are also record of them being nest predators on smaller birds. So they are not liked by other birds and will be chased away like the common Koel. The breeding season is April to June and the nest is a deep cup in a fork of a tree.The eggs, two to three, are salmon pin with reddish spots and darker blotches. Two or three nests may be built by the female and one is finally chosen for laying eggs. Males may sometimes sit beside the unused nests as a distraction. Incubation is by the female alone and the eggs hatch after 14 to 16 days and the chicks fledge after another two weeks. Females stay closer to the nest, taking part in nest sanitation by removal of fecal sacs, driving away predators and feeding the young. The males take a more active role in feeding and guarding.

Zoglandboy commented:

The bird wasnt that lup sup in the past, it started as a rare or uncommon migrant from northern parts in the past and only started to get lup suppish when probably by nature or by human intervention, reaches the Malay Peninsular from Singapore (may had introduced itself from Java/Sumatra to here?) and spread upwards and now becoming a very common species in the West Malaysian town. In Borneo, it had yet to be established that way.

Now, problem came, the new studies suggested that the new resident (what we have now, the "maculatus" is probably a different species from the original migrants ("diffussus") which may still be a rare migrant or more regular migrant now but technically not much of the local birds care to seek them out, I would try to scan through whenever the view is good, but so far with no confirmation of the migrant, the migrant is still visiting Malay Peninsular with the evidence of migratory individuals seen passing south through Chumphon.

If the split is finally agreed upon by all, now mainly due to the non decisive decision for some untested taxons between Indonesia and Philippines. The proposed species are Black-naped Oriole (chinensis) of the Philippines, probably include some other nearby island races. Our common resident is the Sunda Golden Oriole (maculatus), some Indonesia island races are assumed to be of this but need better confirmation. And our migrant would be Asian Golden Oriole (diffussus), perhaps the split would squeeze people to try look out for the taxon more seriously, a similar situation with Richard's/Paddyfield Pipit pair..... not much of us actually bother if it was a migrant or not back then, not until the split is supported, accepted and leaving the migratory Richard's under a strongly disputed situation even up to today where it's status remained pretty uncertain.