Oriole - description, habitat, interesting facts

The oriole is a bird with a small size and bright saturated color. In the scientific community, the bird is called Oriolus. In translation, the root of the word sounds like "golden." It must be assumed that such a name caused the bird to have a bright saturated color.

The oriole is a songbird. By its nature, singing is like playing the flute. Such singing is especially important for the male during the mating season. In this way he tries to charm and lure the female. Sometimes she can sing in such a way that the song resembles the meowing of feline representatives of the animal kingdom, which is familiar to everyone. But such timbre coloring of the voice is not always peculiar to the bird, but only at the moment when a clear danger approaches.

According to the scientific classifier, the detachment into which the bird leads is called passer-shaped, and the family is called oriole.

What does it look like?

The bird usually does not exceed 25 cm in length, but the wingspan is naturally much more substantial and is 45 cm. A small body weight is also characteristic of a miniature bird. It is only 100 g. The average mass and even less. Male feathers have a bright golden color. In the female, the neck area is colored yellow-green. The same color is typical for the tail. By color, the beak can be different, but pink or dark brown shades prevail.

Behavior and nature of the diet

Top positions in the ranking of poultry feed in the diet are allocated to insects and fruit. This is due to the fact that trees are the main habitat of the Orioles. Having climbed a tree, birds have wide access to various insects. She can easily eat mosquitoes, various bugs, butterflies, their caterpillars.

Of the fruits in the forefront in terms of preference is pear. But the bird does not mind to taste cherries, apricots, and other fruits.For its feeding the bird basically chooses the time in the morning. All the rest of the time she deals only with snacks.

Habitat characteristic

The bird can be found on the European and Asian continents, in the vast north-west of the African continent. In our country, it can be seen in the territories of the south-west of Siberian territory. The preferred location of the birds are the trees, which are located near the reservoir. It can often be found in rare deciduous and pine forests. The bird is well camouflaged in the thick foliage, so it is extremely difficult to see it. If the oriole climbs a tree very high, then it is almost impossible to see it there.

Oriole is a typical migratory bird. With the onset of August flies. The destination of her journey is tropical Africa. He is not in a hurry to return and only does it in the second half of May, when the weather is stable and stable.

It never hibernates on European territory. This is due to the fact that in these places in the winter it is very difficult to find food. In addition, it does not comfortably tolerate the low temperatures that exist in these regions.

Species Species

Wildlife has more than 24 species of this avian representative. Sometimes the differences between them are small, and sometimes they are more significant.

Oriole vulgaris
It represents the most prevalent species. The location is Europe, Asia, Western Siberia of the territory of our country. This species is characterized by the brightness of the plumage with a predominance of yellow, black and green colors. Usually black color characteristic of the wings and beak. But on the abdomen dominated by silver and white shades. Body weight does not exceed 90 g, and the length is 25 cm.

This is not to say that this species is food demanding. The diet consists of fruit and small animals. The bird is well recognizable, due to the presence of bright colors. Other species are characterized by a more modest color range. The species is characterized by the presence of two subspecies. For one of them is characterized by the absence of spots behind the eyes. In another subspecies, on the contrary, it is present.

Greenhead Oriole
Her habitat is Kenya and Tanzania. This species is part of the tropical.Likes to be in tropical and subtropical forests with an abundance of rain. The bird tends to stay close to the waters for the reason that it loves to swim. The oriole is a typical tiddler. She quite often performs immersion in water in order to wash.

In contrast to the previous species, such Orioles have somewhat smaller sizes. The length of the body is not more than 24 cm, and the limit is the weight of 65 g. Green shades dominate in the color palette. Paws are characterized by blue colors, and dark brown shades prevail in the color of the beak.

Oriole is striped
The most common habitat of this species is New Guinea and Australia. Loves to be in eucalyptus forests. This type has a less bright color with a predominance of pastel colors. The body in length can reach 28 cm, and the weight is within 96 g.

Oriole black headed chinese
Dwells in China and Southeast Asia. In the color palette of colors, yellow, green and white predominate. The body length does not exceed 26 cm, and the weight is 90 g. Under favorable conditions, it can live up to 15 years. The view is characterized by the presence of a red beak.Increased sociability is not peculiar to this species, so the birds prefer to constantly be in shelter.

Nun
This species lives in Ethiopia. It prefers tropical rainforests. The color palette is similar to the previous look, but is distinguished by the presence of a black head (hence, in fact, it got its name). For the beak is characterized by brown-red color.

Oriole Masked
The habitat is Africa. It prefers tropical rainforests and dense shrubs. Often it can be found in various thickets.

Big-billed oriole
Mostly lives on the island of San Tom, the location of which is Africa. She chose this territory for herself not by chance. On the island are dense forests, in which the oriole prefers to be. The name of the species is due to the wide beak. This form has only representatives of this species. The length of the body is not higher than 22 cm, and everything rarely exceeds 55 g. This species is characterized by clear sex differences. The male has a black head, and in females it is characterized by a lighter color.

Conditions of breeding

Many pay tribute to these birds for their bright colors. Those who decide to keep this bird at home should learn a number of rules.

It is impossible immediately after catching to place a bird in a cage. She loves freedom very much. If we neglect this rule, then the bird will live no more than 5 days. It is necessary not to put the bird in a cage, but to tame the chick. Being in a cell, you will never hear singing from it, and the owner will lose the opportunity to hear her “heavenly” voice.

Fact! This feathered representative is extremely timid and cautious. It will be a pleasure to consider only when it is at a considerable distance from a person.

It is extremely difficult to feed the oriole in food. He prefers to eat what he finds, and to the purchased food is extremely negative. Hence the conclusion that it is extremely difficult to breed an oriole in captivity. Sometimes it is simply impracticable, which again is explained by the burden of freedom. Anyone who chooses to breed an Oriole in captivity should remember that the cage for its content should be large in size. Oriole loves tossing about the corners.Her feathers are soft and in a cramped cage she can just hurt them.

This type is characterized by pronounced monogamism. A pair is formed for life. During the year, the female is able to sit up to 4 eggs, from which later the chicks will hatch. The female incubates the eggs for 15 days. Hatching eggs is carried out by the female. "Man" only occasionally substitutes her for a while. In the first time after the chicks appear, the parents are only engaged in feeding them. In the daily ration, feeding chicks takes up to 15 hours. 15-17 days after the birth of the chicks are capable of independent flight.

Video: Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)