Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus)

10 inches long

It breeds in much of sub-Saharan Africa from South Sudan and Ethiopia in the north to South Africa in the south. It inhabits dry tropical forests, especially acacia and broad-leaved woodlands, and dense shrubland areas, where it is more often heard than seen despite the brightness of its plumage.

It forages in the canopy, feeding on small fruit and berries as well as large insects (caterpillars, beetles, mantises, locusts, termites). The young are fed mostly with caterpillars.

The nest is a bag of “old-man’s-beard” lichen slung at the end of a long slender branch from 15 to 40 feet up in a tall tree. The nest is well hidden by the beard-lichen which may be attached to the surrounding twigs with cobweb.

Photographed in Wilderness, Western Cape, South Africa.