Bird Guide

Black-hooded Oriole vs Indian Golden Oriole

Black-hooded Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus)

Black-hooded Oriole

Oriolus xanthornus

Small56 gForest

The male is striking, with the typical oriole black and yellow colouration. The plumage is predominantly yellow, with a solid black hood, and black also in the wings and tail centre. The female black-hooded oriole is a drabber bird with greenish underparts, but still has the black hood. Young birds are like the female, but have dark streaking on the underparts, and their hood is not solidly black, especially on the throat. The black head of this species is an obvious distinction from the Indian golden oriole, which is a summer visitor to northern India.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Ujjal Kishor De · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: PampaSorro · CC BY 4.0
Indian Golden Oriole (Oriolus kundoo)

Indian Golden Oriole

Oriolus kundoo

Medium66 gWoodland

The Indian golden oriole is very similar to the Eurasian golden oriole but has more yellow in the tail and has a paler shade of red in the iris and bill. The male has the black eye stripe extending behind the eye, a large carpal patch on the wing and wide yellow tips to the secondaries and tertiaries. The streaks on the underside of females is more sharp than in the females of the Eurasian golden oriole. The European species is larger with a wing length of 149–162 mm in adult males compared to 136–144 mm in O. kundoo. The wing formula is also different with primary 2 longer than 5 in O.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Jairam Vijayan · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Chandu Bandi · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-hooded Oriole and Indian Golden Oriole.