Alternative name: Western Oriole
- Oriolus brachyrynchus
Identification
21 cm (8¼ in)
- Glossy black head, neck and upper breast
- Yellow hindneck and underparts
- Greenish-yellow upperparts
- Blackish primaries
- Red iris
- Reddish-brown bill
Distribution
Africa:
Western Africa: found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 2 subspecies[1]:
- O. b. brachyrynchus:
- Sierra Leone and Guinea to Benin
- O. b. laetior:
Habitat
Primary and mature secondary forests, forest edges and clearings. Gallery forests and savanna woodland.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of invertebrates, particularly caterpillars, as well as spiders, beetles. They also eat seeds and soft fruit.
Breeding
They weave a deep open cup nest from vegetable matter, with lichen and moss on the outside. It is suspended from a horizontal forked branch. The clutch contains 2 eggs, which are incubated by the female. The male feeds her on the nest.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Walther, B. and P. Jones (2020). Western Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus brachyrynchus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.wbhori1.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Western Black-headed Oriole. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Western_Black-headed_Oriole
