Novasola Oriole
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Novasola
Oriole, Icterus lyra
L 19-22 cm, WS 30 cm, Family: Icteridae
IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)
Description:
Slim,
medium-sized, sturdy-bodied songbird with medium to long tail and sharply
pointed, slightly downcurved bill. Breeding males unmistakable, with black
head, back, and tail and brilliant orange undersides and horseshoe-shaped
facial markings. Wing feathers lined white, with a large white wing patch and
white shoulders. Outer tail feathers and tail tip orange to yellow. Females
duller, with yellowish or cream-orange head and breast, brown back and throat,
and lighter belly. In both sexes, feathers on back are faintly outlined in
orange. Juveniles appear like females, and immature males will show black
throat and nape.
Voice:
Song
is a series of clear whistles, liquid notes, and harsh rattles, usually lasting
2-3 seconds. Individual parts of the song sound either squeaky and robotic or
watery and rich. Both males and females sing and will often duet. Most common
calls include hoarse chatter, rattles, and sharp chuk notes.
Range and Habitat:
Summer
range encompasses the entirety of Novasola, including Kosatka and Francis
Islands. Migrates to spend winter in the subtropics of Central America. Habitat
preferences are for areas of sparse tree cover like open woodlands, savannah, forest
edge, shrublands, partially wooded wetlands, and thickets. In the prairie they
can often be found in riparian willow, aspen, alder, or cottonwood stands.
Avoids dense forests and elevations above 7,000 feet. Also common in urban or
suburban green spaces like parks, yards, and orchards, and will visit feeders.
Discussion:
Renowned
for its dazzling and brilliant breeding male plumage, the Novasola Oriole is
intensely colored with vibrant citron oranges and yellows and is one of the
most stunning songbirds of the island’s summer woodlands, rivaled perhaps only
by the Novasola Tanager, to which they are often compared. However, the two are
unrelated as the oriole is actually a member of the New World Blackbird family.
Preferring
open ecosystems with a loose wooded canopy, Novasola Orioles can be found
throughout the forest’s structure, from treetops in the high canopy all the way
to the ground. They forage by gleaning and probing in trees for invertebrates,
fruits, flowers, and nectar, often hopping from branch to branch and hanging
upside down for extended periods. Less commonly, they may fly out to catch
insects midair. The oriole’s diet consists mostly of insects and other
invertebrates like caterpillars, bees, grasshoppers, beetles, and spiders,
fruits like raspberry, blackberry, cherry, and madrone, and nectar from a wide
variety of flowers. They engage in what is called “gaping” or “gape feeding”,
by piercing their sharp bills into the flesh of fruits or prey before then
opening their bills and using their tongues to lap up the leaking juices.
Though they eat many pest insects, orioles also damage fruit crops and are
often considered pests themselves in fruit orchards, and before the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act they were frequently shot on sight. Despite this, it is thought the
spread of orchards across Novasola has actually bolstered oriole population
numbers. They are common in urban parks and gardens, and will visit feeders,
where their preferred foods are fruits, especially berries and citrus like
orange slices. They will also use hummingbird feeders.
One
of the longest-distance migrants of Novasolan songbirds, the Novasola Oriole
travels from as far south as Colombia to Novasola by way of Alaska, averaging close
to 7,500 miles one way. Thus, their breeding season is fairly short, with males
usually establishing territories in early May and migrating off island in late
July. They are thus considered clear harbingers of spring and heavily
associated with springtime. During the breeding season males will sing from
high perches near the tops of trees. Once paired with a female, both
individuals will sing to defend the nest area and to communicate with one
another. Females will build the nest and incubate eggs, while the male defends
the nest and brings her food. Females will build nests by weaving grasses,
animal hair, and other fibers into a hanging, pendulous basket about five
inches deep with an opening at the top, anchored to and hanging below medium
sized branches of trees, especially madrone, poplar, willow, maple, or oak, and
often five to ten feet above the ground, though they can be found as high as
thirty feet. These intricate, sock-like nests are remarkable to look at, and
often last into the next nesting season, but orioles usually take a new mate
each year and pairs who find intact nests will not reuse them, instead tearing
it down and building a new one in its place. Outside the breeding season
Novasola Orioles are solitary but may be seen in small groups or mixed flocks,
especially near reliable food sources like feeders.
Also
called the White-shouldered Oriole, Band-tailed Oriole, and Horseshoe Oriole,
the Novasola Oriole was originally described in 1825 by Charles Lucien
Bonaparte, using a specimen acquired from California. The species name lyra,
meaning lyre, refers to the orange facial markings which Bonaparte thought were
shaped like the instrument. Later, hybridizations with the Bullock’s Oriole led
scientists to believe they were conspecific with the Bullock’s and Baltimore
Orioles, then lumped under the moniker Northern Oriole. Later they were split
back into separate taxa. Gallquayan
peoples call the bird kooñénaa çagaan ý'usyee, which means roughly
“sunlight angel” or “sunbeam messenger”, and believe the oriole is a sort of
sun spirit, which heralds in the summer warmth. Kuliquit groups call them sheý'wtáax'i,
meaning “bright red/orange” and tell similar stories wherein the oriole steals
warmth from the sun. European and early colonial sailors believed the bird
could cure scurvy.
Singing
and foraging from the treetops, the Novasola Oriole blazes like a drop of
sunlight or a tropical fruit. Their vivid coloration, prolific singing,
impressive hanging nests, and proclivity for developed landscapes like parks,
plantations, and backyards make them a well-known and well-loved bird difficult
to overlook, both figuratively and literally. Their songs ring out, heralding
the Novasolan spring, and nature enthusiasts across the island are sure to
leave out fruits at their feeders to attract the birds. Whether in town or the
wilderness, these active, agile birds always seem to enliven and lighten the
landscape.
“Regarding
the male [oriole] plumage, no others shall appear like it, no others should you
confuse as it. The Oriole’s heliod display of the most vibrant yellows and
oranges are unique among native birds, and they are thus not only a thrill to
encounter but an ease to identify.
Though
the White Shouldered Oriole has no native lookalikes, it does find on the
mainland a brother and near-twin in I. bullockii, with whom it shares
much of its migration route. Look to the black hood, banded tail, or white
shoulders of I. lyra to best distinguish males from I. bullockii,
while in females a dark throat and face and banded tail are best.” – Manual
to Novasolan Birds, 1914
“Made
landfall once again. Many of the crew were satisfied to make port after a
returning scouting party brought news of astounding fowl, bright like the
sunrise. They spent several hours hunting the birds to bring back aboard,
hopeful to ease their ails.” – Ship log fragment, unattributed, Primo Ricci
voyage, 1760. Translated from Italian.
“Though
unable to compete with the likes of the many seabirds and the hummingbirds, the
White Shouldered Oriole undertakes perhaps the farthest migration of any
endemic passerine. Observations of the bird have been made not only in
California, like the specimen described by Mr. Bonaparte, but in Mexico and by those industrious men laboring to complete the great canal of Panama. With such distance to cover twice
each year, it strikes me dumb to imagine how the little creatures have any time
to spare for those necessities of life like eating or sleeping, let alone
breeding and rearing young, for which the bird allots three months in the
Fastwaters.
Orioles
which make it to the island will find favorable breeding grounds in all corners
of the territory where woodlands and open country meet. There are, however,
many a bird incapable of reaching the island in time, falling short in Alaska
and Canada, and thus endeavor to find suitable mates where they might. In such
instances they may be exceptionally lucky to find another bird of the same
species, and more often these wayward birds might pair with the other northern
orioles, Bullock’s and Baltimore, rearing hybrid offspring which make
successful identifications difficult, and while many may feel on the island
there is no such worry, as there have been no known instances of mainland
oriole species traveling to the Fastwaters, we cannot be certain our orioles
are of entirely pure heritage themselves. It is more than reasonable to wager
that some, if not many, of the “White Shouldered” orioles breeding in Novasola
are in some percentage, however small, hybrids themselves.” – Native Birds
of Novasola, 1912