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Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on
boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings,
knowing she hath wings.
- Victor Hugo
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Right through the winter the Black-headed Orioles have stayed in my garden, gorging themselves on the nectar of the aloes and the fruit I put on the bird tables. Their liquid calls always have me running for the camera and this chap was fairly unperturbed at my being fairly close.
Every now and then, however, he would look up just to make sure the situation hasn't changed and that I'm not too close!
The male and female are fairly undistinguishable from one another but the male is striking, with the typical oriole black and yellow
colouration. The plumage is predominantly yellow, with a solid black
hood, and black also in the wings and tail centre.
The female is a drabber bird with greenish
underparts, but still has the black hood. Young birds are like the
female, but have dark streaking on the underparts, and their hood is not
solidly black, especially on the throat.
Although it has bright colours, it may still be difficult to spot,
because its preferred habitat is among the foliage of high trees and
thick bush, blending in with the sun and shade spots. It is likely to be heard before being seen as its liquid
whistles interspersed with lowish, drawn-out screeching sounds, are loud
and draw attention.
They feed mainly on fruits, insects, berries and nectar and are
said to have a very quick digestion period of around 5 minutes. They
will nest in trees, placed in a fork at the end of a branch. The chicks
get fed on caterpillars, eventually leaving the nest after 14-18 days. There is no record of the incubation period for
this bird.
Egg-laying season is from September - February. peaking from September to December.
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Dis te pragtig!! Dankie vir die deel hiervan en al die wonderlike inligting. Swartkopwielewaal se naam klink mos nie verniet soos "musiek" nie!
ReplyDeleteJip, ek stem saam, die Afrikaanse naam is musiek vir die ore! Dankie vir die kuiertjie, bly om jou hier te sien!
DeleteA beautiful bird, Maree.
ReplyDeletethat they are indeed John, and their beautiful call is very special too!
Deletethere was a nest of these birds in the garden and the small chicks fell off the nest. we placed the birds on a little platform so that the parent birds could feed them. The chicks look pretty feeble. any idea how we could save them?
ReplyDeleteAny idea how to save black oriole chicks who have fallen off the nest. they look pretty feeble. The parents birds are still around
ReplyDeleteHi Neksith, that is a really sad state of affairs indeed. When chicks fall out of the nest, it's actually better to leave them for the parents to feed, provided there aren't any predators like cats around. The platform sounds good. But depending on how old they are, they are unlikely to make it especially if they don't have any feathers yet. If they're already close to fledging with most or all of their feathers, they have a good chance.
DeleteOrioles are mostly nectar and fruit eating birds but do take a fair amount of insects. This they would then feed to their chicks, so you could give it a try. Put them in a basket on a towel with a hot-water bottle wrapped in another towel so it doesn't burn them. Mash the fruit very well, like apples and bananas and, if they readily open their mouths, you could put in little pieces at a time. Otherwise you would have to force open their mouths by gently putting a finger-nail in the side till the beak is open and then put in some food. Feed every hour or when they call. If you can, catch a couple of small moths for them as well. they won't need any water until they're much older.
Taking on a task like this takes dedication for the next few weeks, so I wish you lots of luck!
PS: Your Vet might also have a supply of Nectar Feed, which you could feed to them with a syringe. You could also contact me telephonically if you're in South Africa -+27 11 952-1538.
Delete