Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus) [XC607151]
by Lynette Rudman from Mandegee farm, oloitoktok, Kenya (call)
Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus) [XC393448]
by Diego Caiafa from kwakilusu,oloitoktok, Kenya (call)
Subspecies
Closely related to and sometimes treated as conspecific with Mountain Oriole (Oriolus percivali), with which it may hybridize in central Kenya, but the two differ in ecology and vocalizations. Both belong to the "African black-headed group", which also includes Green-headed Oriole (Oriolus chlorocephalus), Sao Tome Oriole (Oriolus crassirostris), Western Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus brachyrynchus), Ethiopian Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus monacha) and Black-winged Oriole (Oriolus nigripennis). Subspecies additus formerly known by name tibicen, but that name invalid, as preoccupied. Nominate subspecies and angolensis appear to intergrade clinally in Zimbabwe.
Proposed subspecies kikuyensis (from Nairobi, in Kenya) is synonymized with rolleti.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
rolleti Salvadori, 1864 - Southern Sudan, western and southern Ethiopia, eastern DRCongo (to c. 2° south), Uganda, western and central Kenya, L Victoria Basin.
reichenowi Zedlitz, 1916 - Coastal forests of Somalia to eastern Tanzania (south to c. 9° south).
angolensis Neumann, 1905 - Angola and northern Namibia east to western Tanzania and northern Mozambique.
additus Lawson, 1969 - Coastal southern Tanzania south to coastal southern Mozambique.
larvatus Lichtenstein, 1823 - Southern Zimbabwe, inland southern Mozambique, Swaziland and eastern South Africa (south to southern western Cape).
tibicen Lawson, 1962 - Coastal southern Tanzania to southern Mozambique.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet