Black-naped Oriole feeding on scraps of Sea Apple fruits

posted in: Feeding-plants | 1

“It was a gloomy late afternoon on 13th April when I saw a Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) flying around some Sea Apple trees (Syzygium grande) near my apartment. It landed on a branch and shortly after flew down to perch on the main trunk, aka woodpecker style (below left). After surveying the surroundings for some time, it landed on the road kerb below the tree, again cautiously looking out for danger. When it was satisfied that the coast was clear, it moved down to the road to feed on some whitish stuff (below centre-left), all the while maintaining high alert. It made two types of warning call (more of these in a future posting) while it was on the ground. It had two fledglings in a nearby tree which was just outside one of my bedrooms. If you listen carefully while watching the video I made, you can hear the faint chirping calls.

“By then it had started drizzling, with the noise of rain drops beating down on the umbrella sheltering myself and the camera recorded in the video too. The oriole went back to the safety of a branch, shook its body to get rid of the rain water and flew away.

“I was curious to find out what did the oriole take. I checked and found some that appeared to be the stuff it took (above: cnetre-left). It was probably the Sea Apple fruit scraps left by the Plantain Squirrel (above centre-right) while it was in the fruiting tree (above right).

“Nothing is left wasted in nature.”

Sun Chong Hong
21st April 2011


One Response

  1. I get to see them often here in Khao Yai national park, Thailand. They often stay at the camping grounds. Beautiful birds!


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