Indian Golden Oriole Oriolus kundoo Scientific name definitions

24–25 cm; 60–95 g. Male has head, upperparts and entire underparts rich golden-yellow, black of lores extending as narrow black streak around and behind eye; upperwing velvety black, with broad yellow tips to primary coverts forming large yellow carpal patch on folded wing, remiges with yellowish-white tips, outer primaries and outer secondaries with narrow yellowish-white edges on outer webs (those of secondaries sometimes well marked), outermost tertial tipped yellowish-white; tail velvety black, central pair of feathers with narrow yellow tips, terminal two-thirds of outer feathers conspicuously golden-yellow; under­wing-coverts yellow; iris red; bill dark pink; legs slaty blue. Distinguished from O. oriolus mainly by black eye patch, much more yellow in wing, including larger yellow carpal patch, and longer bill. Female variable; commonly has head, neck, mantle and back bright yellowish-green, rump yellower; lores dark, wing green or brownish, tail olive, outer rectrices with yellowish tips; chin to upper breast pale grey, becoming yellowish-white on belly, all streaked blackish (streaking heaviest on chest), undertail-coverts bright yellow-green; bare parts as male but duller; sometimes more similar to male. Juvenile has bright golden-yellow face and upperparts, yellowish supercilium, usually hint of long dark eye patch, outer rectrices extensively (more than a third) tipped yellow, very heavy black streaking below, bill black; first-year male as female, but often with mix of adult and immature characters.

Uzbekistan, E Turkmenistan, SE Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, extreme W China (Tien Shan), Baluchistan hills and from N & E Afghanistan E in Himalayas to Nepal, perhaps Bhutan (2 Spierenburg, P. (2005). Birds in Bhutan. Status and Distribution. Oriental Bird Club, Bedford, UK. Close ), and S through most of peninsular India; winters also farther S in India and (rare) in Sri Lanka.

Resident in C and parts of N India, with local movements depending on fruit availability. Breeding summer visitor in C Asia , Afghanistan and N Indian Subcontinent; in N India, arrival Apr–May (when mangoes ripen) and departure Aug–Sept; present late Mar to Aug in W & N Pakistan and Mar–Nov in Nepal. Winter visitor in S India as far S as Cape Comorin and in Sri Lanka (Dec–Mar). Males usually arrive back on breeding territories a few days before females. Sight records from Maldives and Andamans may refer either to present species or to O. oriolus.

Song a fluty melodious "pee-lo" or "pee-lo-lo", "who-he-heer" or "weela whee-oh", generally similar to that of O. oriolus but more complex, with shorter, mellower strophes and narrower range of pitch; may give a sweet, prolonged subsong. Calls most commonly a harsh "chee-ah" or "kaach"; also a nasal hiss "ka-a-lee-aa" or a very loud, nasal, upslurred miaowing that begins clearly but ends in harsh screeching sound; sometimes a rapid "tur-tur-tur-tur".

Breeds in Jun in Afghanistan, May–Jun in Nepal and Apr–Sept in India. Male calls constantly on territory during breeding season; female arrives a few days later, and courtship displays involve vigorous chases. Nest built exclusively (or almost exclusively) by female, male may collect some material; a moderately deep open cup woven from fine grass stems, leaves, hemp stems, fine roots, seed down, slender strips of bark and sometimes other materials (e.g. snakeskin, hair, feathers, cotton, wool, fur, strips of paper, cloth, thread and string, and other vegetable fibres), lined with fine grass, vegetable down, hair and feathers, bound with small amounts of spider web, often draped on outside with cobwebs, bits of papery bark, rags and other rubbish, external dia­meter 12·2–13 cm, internal diameter 6·4–9·1 cm, internal depth 3·8–7·6 cm, thickness 2–3 cm; suspended hammock-like in thin, horizontal forked branch at variable height, usually high in outer edge of well-foliaged tree canopy (but sometimes as low as 3 m), and usually near and sometimes above water, e.g. in willow (Salix) surrounded by water; often close to nest of aggressive Hair-crested Drongo (Dicrurus hottentottus) or Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus). Clutch 1–5 eggs, usually 2–4, white, with a few pale yellowish-brown, deep purplish-brown, deep reddish-brown or blackish spots (sometimes with brownish-pink haloes) concentrated at obtuse end, dimensions 25–34 - 19–22·3 mm; incubation by female, male sometimes helping a little, period 14–15 days; chicks brooded exclusively (or almost exclusively) by female, fed by both sexes (first with tiny insects and caterpillars, later with much larger invertebrates), nestling period 14–15 days; young stay with parents for c. 1 month after fledging. One record of adult feeding a fledgling cuckoo (of genus Cuculus).