Black-naped oriole

Oriolus chinensis

Photo by Nick Dean (Flickr)

Common name:
black-naped oriole (en); papa-figos-de-nuca-preta (pt); loriot de Chine (fr); oropéndola china (es); schwarznackenpirol (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Oriolidae

Range:
This species is found throughout eastern China, marginally into south-eastern Russia, in Korea, and also through the Philippines into Indonesia and Singapore. Population breeding in China, Russia and Korea migrate south and south-west to winter in Indochina and in north-eastern and western India.

Size:
These birds are 23-28 cm long and weigh 65-100 g.

Habitat:
The black-naped oriole is mostly found in forests, particularly in moist tropical forests, but also in temperate forests and mangroves, also using second growths, plantations and both rural and urban gardens.

Diet:
They feed on various fruits and berries, namely Ficus and Trema orientalis, but also take insects, the eggs and fledglings of small birds and the nectar if large flowers such as Salmalia and Erythrina.

Breeding:
Black-naped orioles breed in January-June. The nest is a deep cup made of bark, small twigs, grass and roots. It is placed in a fork near the end of a tree branch, often near the nest of a black drongo Dicrurus macrocercus. There the female lays 2-3 bluish-white eggs with brown spots, which she incubtes alone for 14-16 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 14-15 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common, with breeding populations estimated in the range of 10.000-100.000 pairs in both China, Russia and Korea. The black-naped has expanded in range over the 20th century, namely in Singapore and Indonesia.