Black-winged Oriole Oriolus nigripennis Scientific name definitions

19–21 cm; 50–60 g. Nominate race has head to neck and upper breast glossy black, hindneck and upper mantle bright golden-yellow, becoming yellowish olive-green on lower mantle and back; rump and uppertail-coverts bright olivaceous yellow; flight-feathers black, primaries with narrow whitish edges, secon­daries with broad olive-yellow edging, most of upperwing-coverts golden-yellow, primary coverts black; central tail feathers black, remainder with yellow tips increasing in extent towards outer feathers, outermost almost all yellow; side of upper breast and rest of underparts intense bright yellow; iris crimson or dark red; bill red-brown or pinkish-brown; legs grey or bluish-grey. Sexes alike. Immature has head olive-yellow, showing black as adult feathers emerge; upperparts olive-green, chin and throat yellow with blackish streaks, breast dark-streaked olive-green; iris brown, bill brown or pinkish-brown. Race <i>alleni</i> is smaller than nominate, with upperparts yellowish-green or olive, not golden-yellow.

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Mature secondary forest, forest edge, gallery forest, coffee forest, mangroves, large trees in plantations and clearings; also around villages and in used or recently abandoned native cultivation which is overgrown with bush; found less often in primary forest. Sea-level to 2150 m.

Sedentary.

Small fruits, e.g. figs (Ficus), Musanga and Rauvolfia; also invertebrates, e.g. beetles (Coleoptera), winged ants (Formicidae), butterflies (Lepidoptera), small orthopterans, but especially caterpillars. Forages alone, in pairs or in groups of up to four individuals; sometimes joins mixed-species flocks. Searches in dense foliage from middle storey up to canopy. Caterpillars gleaned from leaves and branches, sometimes from undersides of leaves during hovering flight.

Vocabulary very varied, and similar to that of O. brachyrynchus but higher-pitched, with rapid changes in pitch and intensity, some notes merging into others and leaving fewer gaps. Song phrases often turn into duets, an initial short “teeyup” answered by “co-wah” or a glottal “woo-t’i-wah”; also upslurred “ko-lip” (said to be distinct from calls of O. brachyrynchus) and downslurred “tyi-who”, double “wah-wah” (like distant barking dog), “hoo-whee” or “hoo-weehoo”, often repeated, also “hee-haha”, a measured “ho, hee, her, koher” and a deeper “hou-you-kyuwor”. Scolding call a nasal “tyipu-wrrraaaya” with no change in pitch.

Fledgling in Jan in Guinea, birds with enlarged gonads in Sept in Liberia, and nest-building in Jan and full-grown young in Jun in Ivory Coast; nesting in Feb in Ghana and breeds in Mar–Jun in Nigeria; eggs in Feb and nestlings in Oct in Cameroon; breeding condition in Sept, nest-building in Oct, Dec and Feb, and juveniles in Dec in Gabon; enlarged gonads in Feb in Angola; breeding in Jul–Nov and immature in Dec in DRCongo, and breeding condition in Oct and Jan in S Sudan. Breeding partners chase away conspecifics and other bird species, e.g. O. brachyrynchus. In possible courtship display, singing male adopts posture with tail spread and neck puffed out and held erect. One nest in Gabon was an open cup woven from grasses and fibres, with mosses and Usnea lichen worked into the exterior, suspended hammock-like in horizontal fork near end of branch 22 m up in a fig tree. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Generally common and widespread in range of c.1,900,000km². Estimated density 0·04–0·1 individuals/ha at M’Passa, in Gabon. Occurs in various protected areas, e.g. Mont Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, in Ivory Coast, Korup National Park, in Cameroon, Dzanga Reserves, in Central African Republic, Odzala and Nouabalé-Ndoki National Parks, in PRCongo, and others.