Two Black-naped Oriole in Bandar Abbas

2023-6 - Dutch Birding
Two Black-naped Orioles at Bandar Abbas, Iran, in February 2023
On 7 February 2023, at 15:00, Houman Doroudi and Seyed Mahdi Naghibi photographed a strikingly yellow bird in the branches of a dry tree in the centre of Jahad Park in the north-east of Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan, Iran (27°15’29.9”N, 56°25’00.1”E). It perched on a branch for 10 min, cleaning its wings and body feathers. Identification as Eurasian Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus was re¬jected after scrutinising the photographs in the field and, remembering the record of Indian Golden Oriole O kundoo at Chabahar, Iran, on 25 December 2020 (cf Dutch Birding 43: 157, plate 221, 2021), they first thought that it was this species. After further investigations, however, they concluded that it was an immature Black-naped Oriole O chinensis. Next day, 8 February, at 11:00, two Black-naped were seen and photo¬graphed in another area in the southern part of the park by HD and SMN, together with Elham Shaniti. The photographs were sent to the Iran Bird Records Committee and the observations were accepted as the first record (concerning two individuals) for Iran (https://tinyurl.com/33a99r7b).

Description

The description (equal for both birds) is based on field notes and photographs by HD, SHM and ES (plate 496-499).
SIZE & STRUCTURE Medium-sized oriole. Bill relatively stout and long.
HEAD Yellow head with narrow dark band across eye and fading towards hindcrown, broadening and joining at back of neck. Lore greyish.
UPPERPARTS Back and mantle yellow, washed olive-green. Rump bright yellow.
UNDERPARTS Breast, belly and flank yellowish white with fine dark streaks, most prominent on upperbreast and flank.
WING Primaries and secondaries dark grey-brown. Wing coverts and tertials yellow, washed olive-green. Median and greater coverts with narrow pale yellowish tip, creating faint wing bars.
TAIL Mostly yellow with (seen from below) limited black at feather base, black covering c 1/3 to 1/4 of feather length. Undertail coverts bright yellow.
SOUND Not noted.
BARE PARTS Iris brown; bill reddish-pink with darker grey culmen; leg bluish-grey.

Identification

The identification of golden orioles in the Middle East, southern Asia and the Eastern Palearctic is treated by, eg, Rasmussen & Anderton (2005), Robson & Allen (2005), Brazil (2009), Grimmett et al (2011) and Ayé et al (2012) and focusses on three rather similarly looking species, especially in plumages other than adult male: Eurasian Golden, Indian Golden and Black-naped Oriole (see also www.shanghaibirding.com/tag/black-naped-oriole). Black-naped in adult male plum¬age is characterised by a mostly yellow plumage (also mostly yellow wing), strong pinkish bill, broad black mask (‘bandana’), extending to the nape, and yellow-tipped central tail feathers, with the lateral ones almost completely yellow. Females have a more greenish or olive mantle colour but otherwise resemble males closely. Juveniles and first-winter birds are greenish-yellow, lack the dark mask and have a blackish-streaked white belly and breast; the areas which are black in adult plumage are grey. In spring, immature birds have a brownish nape-band and prominent black streaking on the underparts.

496 Black-naped Oriole / Chinese Wielewaal Oriolus chinensis, immature, Jahad Park, Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan, Iran, 7 February 2023 (Houman Doroudi) 497 Black-naped Oriole / Chinese Wielewaal Oriolus chinensis, immature, Jahad Park, Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan, Iran, 7 February 2023 (Seyed Mahdi Naghibi) 498-499 Black-naped Oriole / Chinese Wielewaal Oriolus chinensis, immature, Jahad Park, Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan, Iran, 8 February 2023 (Elham Shaniti)

Black-naped Oriole differs from Eurasian Golden Oriole by the yellow (in adult) to green¬ish-buff (in immatures) wing-coverts (black or dark in Eurasian); mostly yellow tertials (black with yellow tip in Eurasian); mostly yellow outer tail feathers (black with yellow distal part in Eurasian); stouter and longer bill; and much more conspicuous black ‘bandana’, reaching the hind¬neck (black confined to area below eye and loral region in Eurasian). Indian Golden Oriole is very similar to Eurasian Golden Oriole but is closer to Black-naped in some aspects. It is rather similar in size to Eurasian Golden (Black-naped is slightly larger), has more yellow in the tail (like Black- naped), a paler reddish iris and longer but more slender bill (bill longer and stouter in Black-naped). The black eye stripe in males extends somewhat behind the eye (but not as far as in Black-naped), the carpal patch on the wing is larg¬er and there are broad yellow tips to the secondar¬ies and tertials, which are absent in Eurasian Golden (tertials mostly yellow in Black-naped). The streaks on the underside of females are sharp¬er defined than in female Eurasian Golden.
Slender-billed Oriole O tenuirostris from south¬ern Asia (ranging from Nepal south-east to Vietnam) has a more slender and curved bill; apart from this, its wing and tail pattern and extended black mask strongly resemble Black-naped Oriole. Although an unlikely vagrant this far north, African Golden Oriole O auratus from sub-Saharan Africa should also be excluded. This species differs mostly by its dark wing feathers with bright and broad yellow edges, giving a mostly yellow impression with dark lines. The black mask is limited but extends behind the eye, as in Indian Golden Oriole.
The combination of strong and long bill, yel¬low-green wing-coverts and tertials, dark smudge behind the eye and fading to the hindneck (as ghost image of the developing ‘bandana’) and ex¬tensive yellow on the outer tail feathers identifies the two birds at Bandar Abbas as Black-naped Orioles.

Distribution and vagrancy

Black-naped Oriole is found in many parts of east¬ern and southern Asia. No less than 20 subspecies are currently recognised, some of which (mainly on islands or island groups) were formerly recog¬nised as separate species (Jønsson et al 2019, Walther & Jones 2020, Gill et al 2023). The species breeds in forests, gardens and plantations and feeds on berries and insects in the canopy. The most northerly and migratory subspecies O c dif¬fusus breeds in eastern Siberia and Ussuriland, Russia, north-eastern China, Korea, Japan and northern Vietnam and occurs widespread across India during winter, mainly in the north-eastern parts and the peninsula and is also found in Bangladesh. Populations breeding in eastern Asia spend the winter in the tropical areas of South-East Asia such as Thailand and Myanmar. Diffusus is an uncommon migrant in many parts of southern India and a very rare migrant to Sri Lanka.
In the ‘greater’ Western Palearctic (WP), there have been two previous records, in Oman (adult female at Thumrait, Dhofar, on 7 December 2011; cf Eriksen & Victor 2013, Eriksen 2020; Sandgrouse 34: 98, 2012) and in the United Arab Emirates (immature at Safa Park, Dubai, on 18-25 February 2012; Pedersen et al 2023; https://tinyurl.com/p2zbenj9, https://ebird.org/checklist/S77825819). All three records in the WP are at least 2000 km from the nearest regular wintering areas.

Acknowledgements

We would like to present this record and paper to the birding and ornithological community of Iran, especial¬ly to Mohammad Alvandi, Abbas Ashoori, Bijan Farhang, Eskandar Firooz, Meysam Ghasemi, Fred Harrington, Mohammad Safrang, Derek Scott, Dareh Shoori and Houshang Ziayii, as well as to our families, especially our mothers.

References

Ayé, R, Schweizer, M & Roth, T 2012. Birds of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. London.
Brazil, M 2009. Birds of East Asia: Eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Eastern Russia. London.
Eriksen, J 2020. Oman bird list (version 7.10). Website: https://tinyurl.com/45fa7f2s.
Eriksen, J & Victor, R 2013. Oman bird list: the official list of the birds of the Sultanate of Oman. Seventh edi¬tion. Muscat.
Gill, F, Donsker, D & Rasmussen, P (editors) 2023. IOC world bird list (version 13.2). Website: www.world-birdnames.org.
Grimmett, R, Inskipp, C & Inskipp, T 2011. Birds of the Indian subcontinent. Second edition. London.
Jønsson, K A, Blom, M P K, Marki, P Z, Joseph, L, Sangster, G, Ericson, P G P & Irestedt, M 2019. Complete subspecies-level phylogeny of the Oriolidae (Aves: Passeriformes): Out of Australasia and return. Mol Phylogenet Evol 137: 200-209.
Pedersen, T, Smiles, M, Campbell, O & Aspinall, S 2023. Annotated checklist of the birds of the United Arab Emirates. Website: www.uaebirding.com/bird-check¬lists.
Rasmussen, P C & Anderton, J C 2005. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. Barcelona.
Robson, C & Allen, R 2005. New Holland field guide to birds of South-East Asia. London.
Walther, B & Jones, P 2020. Black-naped Oriole Oriolus chinensis. In: del Hoyo, J, Elliott, A, Sargatal, J, Christie, D A & de Juana, E (editors), Birds of the world, Ithaca. Website: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blnori1.01.

Houman Doroudi, Tehran, Iran (houman.drd@gmail.com)
Seyed Mehdi Naghibi, Mashahd, Iran (naghibi.mehdi@gmail.com)
Elham Shaniti, Shiraz, Iran (el.shanitii@gmail.com)
Enno B Ebels, Utrecht, Netherlands (ebels@wxs.nl)

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