| Common Name : | Black-hooded oriole. |
| Binomial Name : | Oriolus xanthornus |
| Family : | Oriolidae |
| Bengali Name : | Isti kutum ( |
| Photo Taken : | Bangladesh |
Black-hooded oriole is a very common and beautiful bird from our Bangladesh. It belongs to the family Oriolidae. Binomial name of this bird is Oriolus xanthornus. Local name of this bird here in Bangladesh is Holde pakhi, Isti kutum pakhi, Bene bou, etc. This bird is native to India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan along with South East Asia.
This common bird is mostly seen around trees near houses at village in Bangladesh. The color of the Black-hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) is strikingly yellow like the turmeric. The head is black and some part of the tail and the wings are also black. The beak is peach in color and the eyes are reddish with a black pupil. For the female birds the head is slightly duller. The juveniles are also having duller black hood and body size is smaller then matures.
Black-hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) is a passerine bard, means it is having three front toes and one back toe which help this bird for perching. Its main diet is the fruits and insects. This normal sized bird is having a rhythmic flight which is something like flapping the wings and stopped and then again flapping.
This bird builds the nest into the trees and lays two eggs. Their breeding season is the Summer here in Bangladesh. They can produce several types of calling. The calling is high pitched but to me those sounds sweet (though many found it harsh). The most commonly head call is like 'Kiyak' and 'Pilolo pilolo'.
I have already mentioned above that the bird's local name that is 'Isti Kutum'. In our village area if we see this bird at the daytime then we assume that a guest would come to visit our house soon. In Bengali both the word Isti and Kutum refer to the word 'guest' in English. So now you understand why it is having such a local name in Bengali.
Another local name is 'Bene bou'. It is actually a story or folklore that is with an unfortunate wife of a merchant. She was tortured by her mother-in-law everyday. One day she was making some hand made pitha and her dress was covered with flour that was mixed with yellow from the turmeric. She ate few pitha from there as she was hungry. But her bossy mother-in-law was grumpy on her and she got scared. She jumped inside a nearby pond and died. After that the goddess turned her into a yellow bird like this Black-hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus). That's why this bird is also known as 'Bene bou', means the merchant's wife.
A juvenile Black-hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus).
Photos of Black-hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) were taken from Bangladesh as follows:
1) 2014 & 2015: Botanical Garden.
2) November 2014: Atkandi, Narsingdi.
3) December 2014: Kalenga reserve forest, Hobiganj.
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icbird.blogspot.com/
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