Common iora

Aegithina tiphia

Photo by Johnny Wee (Flickr)

Common name:

common iora (en); iora-d'asa-escura (pt); petit iora (fr); iora común (es); schwarzflügel-aegithina (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Aegithinidae

Range:

This Asian species is found across the Indian sub-continent and Sri Lanka, in south-western China and through south-east Asia down to Indonesia.

Size:

This small iora is 13-17 cm long and weighs 13-15 g.

Habitat:

The common iora is found in open woodlands, secondary forests, gardens, orchards, mangroves, and beach forests.

Diet:

These birds are omnivorous, searching for arthropods, including spiders, moths, caterpillars, and other similar insects, among the leaves of tree, but also eating fruits and berries. They sometimes also catch insects on the wing.

Breeding:

Common ioras are monogamous and breed in April-June. The nest is a loose, deep cup, made with grass and plant fibres woven together, and consolidated with silk of spider webs, usually placed in a fork, at the end of a branch, in a small tree. There the female lays 2-4 greenish-white eggs with brown spots. The eggs are incubated by both parents for 14 days and the chicks fledge about 14 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and is described has common. Since this species can readily adapt to living in gardens and orchards it probably has expand in range in recent years.