Scientific name:
Oriolidae

Natural spread:
India, Australia, New Guinea

the orioles forms a family of active, throttle-big birds with 34 types with usually colorful plumage; the shining plumage-parts can yellow over orange and red until blackish-red, but also silver-knows is tinted. The main-spread-area stretches from India as far as to North-Australia; six types are represented in Africa, and one type only each could advance Oriolus oriolus until Eastern Asia (black-neck-oriole, Oriolus chinensis, 23 cm of length) or to Europe (oriole) northwards; 24 cm of length. The oriole arrives also only from middle April here and moves again into the African hibernation-areas already in August. it lives in whole Europe, with exception of the high north and Greece, as summer-bird; its spread stretches far over front and means-Asia as far as to the Altai.

Way of life One must look in order to interpret the many names of the oriole in the German spread-area only at its way of life nearer. So, it will call beer-donkeys, Bülow, gold-throttle, rain-cat, Pentecost-bird or cherry-bird.

Some explanations let themselves find easily: Until Pentecost, the orioles covered its brood-precinct. The males have an unmistakable gold-yellow and black plumage and let its pleasantly piping chant probably more frequently sound on cloudy days, during the combination-time, the reputation recited by both sexes like "Bühlo" sounds etc..

Anyway not very frequently, the oriole lives hidden in the foliage of the trees, so that also the males are to rarely be seen; the female is with its oberseits sallow-becomes green, gray-whitens plumage of the surroundings below much more strongly adjusted from the start. The birds brood in Mischwäldern, as an exception also in pure jaw-forests (Z), preferably. B. Mark Brandenburg. Here, they only rarely leave the protective treetops, about Z. B. after it from bigger insects (maybugs, moths, locusts, caterpillars) and, to look for forest-berries of existing food. Sweet-cherries or currants are settlements human in the proximity special delicacies; the pulp is pulled down powerful and almost conical beak very fast from the kernel with it.

Brood Also the nests are usually positioned very highly in a tree. Both partners build an artistic bowl, that hangs down from the protective branches, in a horizontal branch-fork. The 3-4 eggs are incubated by the female mainly while the male flies restlessly in its precinct from tree to tree and expels all nest-robbers on that occasion full of aggressiveness. It expresses on that occasion rasping and rasping reputations, that come from the female as well, if an enemy approaches the nest there. After 14-15 days, the nest-stools slip and are looked after by both alto-birds.

The other types of the family probably differ in the plumage-coloring, but hardly in the way of life. Only the Australian orioles are far more sociable and like to appear in small swarms.