Indian Golden Oriole

About the Indian Golden Oriole

The Indian golden oriole (Oriolus kundoo) is a species of oriole found in the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. The species was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Eurasian golden oriole, but is now considered a full species. Adults can be told apart from the Eurasian golden oriole by the black of the eye stripe extending behind the eye.

The Indian golden oriole was described by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832 and given the binomial name Oriolus kundoo. Although initially described as a separate species, the Indian golden oriole was usually treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian golden oriole. In 2005, the ornithologists Pamela Rasmussen and John Anderton in their Birds of South Asia decided to treat the two varieties as separate species based on the differences in morphology, plumage, calls and the fact that the two varieties do not intergrade. Support for this split was provided by a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010, and most ornithologists now treat the Indian golden oriole as a separate species. The race baltistanicus was judged by Charles Vaurie to be indistinguishable from the nominate subspecies and... Wikipedia →