Life on the Wing by Derwent May

Author:Derwent May [Derwent May]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849543460
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2012-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Golden orioles are brilliant golden birds with black wings, unmistakable if you see them. But can you see them? Across the Continent there are millions of them, but here we are at the extreme north-western edge of their range. A few appear in spring, and several pairs usually nest in the Fen country – but that is all.

Even when they are around, they are very elusive. I have only found one for myself in Britain, and my experience was typical. I was staying one May in a village in Oxfordshire and as the sun went down, I suddenly heard in the distance the loud, fluting song of the male. It is a very attractive call, which I can only transcribe inelegantly as a ‘woodley-woop’. I set off in search of the bird, but the call moved around in the dusk and I never got anywhere near to the caller. I got up early the next day and was delighted to hear the call ringing out again. Then the same thing happened as on the previous evening – as soon as I got anywhere near, the call stopped, and next minute I heard it coming from somewhere else. Not only do orioles lurk deep in the branches, but they fly very swiftly away from any potential approaching danger.

However, I was lucky. After a good hour trailing after the bird, I found myself getting quite close to it in a small wood. And there, suddenly, I saw it – perched, untypically but very helpfully, on the top of a cypress tree. It was not golden and black but green and black, but it was an undoubted oriole. In fact, the females and younger birds are a yellowish green, so mine, I concluded, was a juvenile male that was already in song.

Golden Oriole

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