The Golden Oriole - Singing (but no sighting!)

This video is more of an aural record of how a male Golden Oriole sounds when holding territory. It shows a few of the variations in song/calls that the two males resident in the Poplar woods of RSPB Lakenheath in 2011 managed.
I did see the bird eventually: in Trial Wood, the narrowest wood with lowest trees, but I have to say: this was one of the most frustrating ornithological episodes of my life! I spent hours squinting into swaying canopy leaves, week in, week out... to no avail, being taunted by the, sometimes really close-by, song... that never revealed its singer.
In some ways it would have been easier if I didn't hear it calling all the time! You'd never think that a bright yellow bird the size of a thrush would be so elusive!

N.B. It is not known if the Oriole nested at all in Lakenheath this year, despite two males and one female being seen. This is a real shame, as Lakenheath is almost certainly the only legitimate breeding territory left for the bird in the whole of the UK.
Here's hoping 2012 is a better year for them... and that they nest close to the edge of the wood where we can all see them like in 2009!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Eurasian
• Golden
• Oriole
• Oriolus
• oriolus
• bird
• birdwatching
• ornithology
• RSPB
• Lakenheath
• Fen
• Poplar
• wood
• wildlife
• nature
• leaves
• singing
• call
• song

[zeeox]

@NightHeronProduction - indeed! Blasted things! Why can't they just fly out every so often to say hello!

[NightHeronProduction]

damm birds, tuanting people with their song while their hiding in trees

[zeeox]

@MrFraneque - yer... can be a right pain sometimes!

[MrFraneque]

Birdwatching...haha