Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus)

Other Names (World)
Olive-backed Oriole, Australian Oriole, Green-backed Oriole, Northern Oriole, White-bellied Oriole, Green Oriole(!), Cedar Bird, Green Thrush, Oriole, Cedar Pigeon, Striated Roller, Greenback

Family
Oriolidae (Old World Orioles)

Size
25 - 28 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Latham, 1801)

Derivation
Or-i-öl'-us - N.L., from O. Fr. oriol and L., aureolus, golden; L., aurum, gold: sa-git-tä'-tus - L., marked with arrows

Abundance (Guide)
C - MC

Common in the north. Migrant ti the south-east.

Habitat
Mainly open eucalypt forests and woodlands, but often in rainforests. Less often in mangroves.

Range (Guide)

Australia (B), Papua New Guinea.

Vagrant to Indonesia.

Northern and eastern Australia from the Kimberley east to Cape York and south to Victoria and eastern South Australia. Also New Guinea.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
Secure.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Usually singly but often in twos, and in fall-winter, sometimes small flocks of twenty.

Food
Mainly fruit and arthropods, primarily insects, but also seeds and nectar, and, rarey, nestlings of small birds.

Voice
A rolling, mellow, 'orry, orry-ole' or 'olly-ole', often repeated. Also harsh scolds. A scratchy warbling song.

(26Kb) © ? (1)

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (59)...)

Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus) [XC517556]
by James Lambert from Aspley, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia (song)

Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) [XC188238]
by Nigel Jackett from Fingal Head, New South Wales, Australia (call)

Breeding Season (Guide)
September - January.

Nest
Deep, cup-shaped, composed of strips of soft bark and leaves, lined with dried grasses, usually placed in the outer drooping branch of a tree, from 1 - 20 m above the ground.

Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4; cream, spotted and blotched with grey and brown; oval; about 32 x 22 mm. Incubation: about 17 - 18 days; by female.

Young
Altrical, nidicolous. Fledge in 15 - 17 days.

Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Brown Oriole (Oriolus szalayi), Halmahera Oriole (Oriolus phaeochromus), Seram Oriole (Oriolus forsteni), Buru Oriole (Oriolus bouroensis) and Timor Oriole (Oriolus melanotis).

The following 4 subspecies are recognised:

magnirostris van Oort, 1910 - South-central New Guinea.
affinis Gould, 1848 - North-western and north-central Australia (east to southern Gulf of Carpentaria).
grisescens Schodde & Mason, IJ, 1999 - North-eastern Australia (Cape York, in northern Queensland).
sagittatus (Latham, 1801) - North-eastern Australia (except Cape York) south to Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. Many migrate north in winter.

References
See References.

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9

Files:

JPG files for Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) - 10 files

MP3 files for Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) - 1 files

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BirdLife International

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