Oriole ordinary – when young greens may groves suddenly you hear a loud flute whistle, we say to ourselves: that Orioles have already returned. These colorful birds come to us from the wintering among the last. In Central Russia it usually occurs in mid-may.
And then the sonorous voice of the Orioles will be heard until almost July. Moreover, imitating the whistle of the Orioles, we can lure lurking in the foliage of the singer to a more open space or to pull it closer to mine.The Oriole is very simple to learn, especially the male. Another bright yellow bird with black wings and tail and coral-red beaks we have no more. (In the far East there is another kind of Chinese black-headed Oriole, differing from the ordinary black head.) Female are more modest top in a greenish tone, and the bottom (the throat, breast, belly) she is a bright, yellowish-white, streaked dark longitudinal stripes. The size of the Oriole with a medium-sized thrush: length 25 cm, weight about 80 g.
Orioles – not the object for the observer, because almost all the time are kept high in the crowns and on the ground almost did not go down. And if you suddenly find yourself on the ground to pick up any blade of grass for the nest, moving very clumsy and irregular on the forest floor visible trace of it remains. However, we know that the support surface of the legs Orioles with a length of about 4 cm; length of the 1st finger is 1.7 cm, the 2nd is 1.6 3rd is 2.2 and 4th – 1.8 cm
Orioles feed on invertebrates, and perhaps the most important role in their power play butterfly caterpillars. They eat large caterpillars of hawk moths and are covered with prickly hairs of the caterpillars of silkworms, and moths. Adult butterflies by day and night, are also caught. Eating bugs, large Hymenoptera, such as rockbottom or birch sawflies, Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets). Since the second half of the summer eat cherry fruits, cherry, currant. And in the southern regions eat cherries, grapes, figs. With such stern Orioles would have to dump the pellets to get rid of the hard chitinous integument of the insect and seeds of ingested fruit, but I have for many years not found a single pellets of these birds and their droppings have not seen (it is possible that he is simply lost in the grass).
Maybe in the southern regions, where Orioles often kept in plantations at lower trees, managed to find some traces, like obcleanup fruit. But in the middle lane, in the habitats Orioles, typically not even find the lost feathers – after all, the old birds molt on the wintering grounds.
Nests of Orioles view mainly on deciduous trees – birches, alder, willows, aspens, oaks, pears, and most often high in the crowns.
The first nest I found, however, in the pine tree that stood at the edge of forty years planting. It was located at a height of 9 m above the ground and 2 m from the trunk. The outside was made of dry stalks of cereal plants, and the bottom resembled the nest of the Snowbird. Arranged in the fork of a branch it was hanging under it in a wicker basket, and the top edge was firmly attached to the branches of the fork coating their bast fibers.
Inside the nest was lined with more subtle dry grass. The dimensions of slot: width 12.5 cm, height 9 and a tray size of 8×6,3 cm First of June, when it was found the nest there were 3 eggs, apparently, unfinished masonry, as the eggs were fresh. In the full clutches of these birds is usually 4 to 5 eggs. The size and shape of an egg Orioles resemble the eggs of the song thrush or Starling, but the color is different – white with a faint pinkish tinge and is covered with rare black spots. Egg-size 30×22 mm, weight about 40 g.
The literature indicates that sometimes the Orioles can build nests is relatively low, about 2-3 m above the ground, but in the middle lane I can see them on a more considerable height, not below 5-6 m. they were Found on aspen, alder and oak, and they were always located on the lateral branches, and were virtually inaccessible for inspection.
After 2 weeks of incubation in the nest the Chicks appear, blind, but covered with long yellowish-white fluff. Very often after hatching, the nestlings of songbirds to the forest floor to notice the shells of the eggs removed from nest by adult birds. I have repeatedly found the shells of eggs and thrushes, and starlings and many other birds, but the egg shells Orioles never caught. Perhaps these birds do not tolerate it from the slot.
At the end of June or in July, the young Orioles are leaving the nest and from that time the family flocks begin to disperse at the tops of the trees, echoing slim votes. Sometimes you can see birds crossing the clearing, flitting from one end of the grove to another. It would seem that overcoming open spaces Orioles had to be tempting bait for raptors. But reviewing a lot of materials for the power hawks, different falcons and other birds of prey Orioles among the victims I found. The only time the Orioles have been found among the food remnants of the black kite. But I doubt very much that the hawk caught the bird. Rather, he found her already dead or severely weakened. And maybe eat the remains of someone else’s production.
By the end of August Orioles disappear from our seats and fly to winter in South Africa, and the Eastern population of birds in India.
