Bird Guide

Black-naped Oriole vs Indian Golden Oriole

Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis)

Black-naped Oriole

Oriolus chinensis

Medium83 gForest

The black-naped oriole is medium-sized and overall golden with a strong pinkish bill and a broad black mask and nape. The adult male has the central tail feathers tipped yellow and the lateral ones are more broadly yellow. The female has the mantle colour more greenish or olive. The juvenile has a streaked underside. The nestling has dull greenish with brown streaks. The head and nape are more yellowish and the undertail coverts are yellow. Several variations exist in the populations that have been separated as subspecies. The subspecies in the Andamans, O. c.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: J.M.Garg · CC BY 3.0
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

Learn this pair in BeakBrain

Photo and call practice, free in any browser.

Play BeakBrain

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