VogelPark Walsrode Birdpark's Asian Orioles

Orioles are popular birds due to their stunning colours and fabulous voice. The family are distributed from Africa to Australia in around 26 species. Some species are migratory and others not, the majority of species are tropical residents. Quite a high number of the species look very similar and recent speculations, that there may be cryptic species to be identified among the known subspecies, still need further research in order to be confirmed.

For almost all species it is known that the individual bird spend most of the year living alone and only for the breeding period the pair actually join forced. How frequently the same, or a strange, partner is selected from season to season is virtually unknown.

 Orioles are rare in aviculture and breeding results are very infrequent and consistent breeding success has hardly ever been reported for any species.
One of the main issues with this species are the aggressive behaviour often displayed by birds in captivity. It has often been reported that males kill females or that the birds just do not tolerate each others company. Often the praxis of separating the birds for the bulk of the year is difficult to realize in most setups.
The birds thrive well in an aviary on their own or with less aggressive species on a varied diet consisting to 60 percent of a frugivores diet and the rest insectivores with plenty live-food and some meat. They do not seem to be particular sensitive to iron-storage-disease.

A few species of Asian Orioles are still maintained at the VogelPark Walsrode some such as the Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) and the Yellow-mantled Oriole (Oriolus xanthonotus) which are both unfortunately limited to single birds.

At least in one species the Celebes Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis celebensis) we have managed to achieve at least some repeated success in our large Indonesian exhibit, the Nusantara Rainforest. The first chick successfully fledged in 2004 and another in 2005 in both cases without even detecting the location of the nest. In 2007 two chicks were reared by the pair from a nest placed at six meter height in a fig tree (Ficus benjamini).
Due to the poor records in sustainable breeding of orioles it is a major concern of ours to maintain the success with this species long-term. We therefore started efforts to optimize the breeding and started to look for unrelated birds with other institutions and breeders.

First step was the precise identification as there are 22 or 23 different subspecies of the Black-naped Oriole which proved to be quite difficult. Initially we had our birds wrongly identified and for a time even considered them to be a different species, the Slender-billed Oriole (Oriolus tennunirostris). The accurate identification was only possible after extensive research and finally settled with the Celebes Black-naped Oriole. The identification of the various subspecies are very difficult although they differ quite extensively. Unfortunately there is only little literature with descriptions available.
We also learned that other institutions were having as much trouble in the identification of the different subspecies as we had and after some time searching for birds we finally found our selves with three very different subspecies in the collection. The large Sula Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis frontalis) and the migratory subspecies from mainland Asia (Oriolus chinensis diffusus) were both additions we had not expected and which did not help the breeding project as both of these subspecies differ considerably in size, behaviour and calls.

In the end we have only been able to find similar birds with one private breeder in Germany and in two zoos in the Czech Republic. Our cooperation has started with the placement of the young birds from the VogelPark Walsrode in the aviaries of the private breeder and will carry on with setting up a monitored breeding effort with other interested zoos.
We have experienced quite a few problems with the DNA sexing of this particular subspecies until now all tested birds have had “female” as test result although there are differences in the brightness of the birds’ plumage and behaviour. A part of the project with this subspecies will also include establishing more precise parameters for sexing and husbandry.
 

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