Hello everyone! The adage regarding the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated (or the many other variations of that saying) come to mind after my absence here these last 6 or so days. I am proud to say our annual haunt event is officially in the books and based on the feedback received so far, a huge success. I do not want to go into detail now and take away from Brad’s post – not to mention I really, really need some sleep, but I did want to note how much we appreciated all the prep/build help we received this year. Especially my brother Ron who spent many a weekend down here working very long hours and the rest of the Intrigued staff, including Brad and Jan, who spent multiple days in the rain and mud with us to get the props into the absolutely saturated valley, stage the scenes and power it all up – forever grateful! Not sure how much sleep I actually got over these last couple of weeks, however I can tell you the somewhere along the trail sits the 14 pounds I lost in the process. Just need to finish the tear down, restore the body and then get focused on the big race in a short couple of weeks. Will hopefully touch base again soon, but until then, enjoy another incredible find from Brad and Jan on their Caribbean assignment.
Take it away Brad…
Jan and I were enjoying a warm Caribbean day overlooking a beach taking photos. We were on assignment in Curaçao (pronounced “kyer-uh-SAU” or “cure-uh-SOW” with the end rhyming with how or plow) and had stopped for a bit at Playa Kenepa Grandi (Large Kenepa Beach in English) on the island of Curaçao.
Most of the members of our tour group were ignoring the fantastic view from the bluff and were standing in line for a frozen adult treat, or visiting the facilities. The beach was about a quarter mile away and 100 feet below us. Picture a horseshoe; we were standing near the left end of an upturned horseshoe with the beach down in the “saddle” area of the “U”. There was a winding trail from the edge of the parking lot down to the beach. It was rumored to be a clothing optional beach, but we were unable to verify. Imagine, if you will, light blue water near the beach and graduating to a deep blue further out to sea. There was also a slight ocean breeze blowing towards us from the beach. Jan and I, of course, were exercising our cameras.
While photographing the bright orange Venezuelan Troupial (link here), this other yellow bird kept leaping into the frame. Later in our photoshoot, we found out that two other bright yellow birds were indeed juvenile Troupials. So, who is this photobombing bird? The new bird looked a bit different than the juvenile Troupials we caught a few minutes later. This new yellow bird wasn’t making any noise so Merlin couldn’t help.
Learn more about this colorful photobomber after the jump!
It wasn’t until we made it back to the ship and I downloaded the photos that I figured out it was a Yellow Oriole (Icterus nigrogularis), another +1 for us from Curaçao. We really had a two-fer, thinking we were photographing juvenile Troupials only to find out it was a completely different bird. Yay for us! Better to be lucky than good sometimes.
Like the Troupial, this bird didn’t seem to mind being around humans. As Jan and I foot-zoomed our cameras closer (only had our 18-200mm travel lenses with us), the Oriole kept hopping from twig to twig. But in a few minutes, it flew away, never to be seen again. Well, at least not in the next 10 minutes before we had to board the motor coach again.
While I couldn’t find anywhere in the few websites I checked where Orioles hang around with Troupials, this one most certainly did. I have both birds in a few photos perched happily a twig or two away from each other. Maybe they have developed a cooperative environment like chickadees and finches have where we live. Or the adult Troupials just see them as a smaller yellow bird and assume it’s a younger version of them? Inquiring minds want to know. If you do know, please leave a comment below.
Earlier, I mentioned that I thought the Yellow Oriole was a juvenile Venezuelan Troupial. It’s true, juvenile Troupials are yellow in color, but that’s where the similarity stops. Troupials have a bill that comes straight out of their forehead, not so with the Yellow Oriole; it looks like a “regular” bird.
Adult Yellow Orioles are mostly yellow except for a black bib, black wings with white highlights, and a black tail. If you’ve ever seen an Altamira Oriole (I haven’t), you could swap the orange from that bird, and replace it with Yellow in Photoshop and have the Yellow Oriole. Or it looks like an Audubon Oriole without the black hood. Or perhaps like a Baltimore Oriole except for the hood and change orange to yellow. I think you get the point. You can see the difficulty with new LYJ’s and LOJ’s (little yellow jobbers and little orange jobbers) in the field for relatively new birders. Let alone identifying new birds in completely different countries.
As I mentioned earlier, Jan and I were standing at the edge of a small parking lot. All around us there were faint wind and beach noises. Oh, and of course, tourist noises all around. None of which seemed to bother the Oriole in the slightest.
It does pay to snap as many photos as you can in the field (without a constantly running shutter) because what I may think the bird is most certainly is not true in new locations. At least get a few ID photos, even if they may not be story worthy. As Brian always tells me (another T-shirt idea for the Wildlife Intrigued merch department), “Get something in the tin, then go after the glamour shots”, or something like that.
The Yellow Oriole has a habit of visiting agricultural areas and feeding on the small ears of corn, hence its nickname: small corn bird. They are also known for foraging in banana groves, earning them another nickname: plantain bird. We were near neither of those locations to the best of our knowledge. I would have called them the “photobomb bird” because the Oriole was in the frame or at least the background of many of the photos of the Venezuelan Troupial.
Male and female Yellow Orioles look nearly identical except that the males’ wings are slightly longer. Not having another one to compare with, I don’t know if we were looking at a male or female Oriole.
Small Corn Birds will feed on invertebrates, fruit, nectar and will sometimes visit hummingbird feeders. I’ve seen this behavior with the Baltimore Orioles we have at home. Yellow Orioles are monogamous with males vigorously defending females and nest sites. The female incubates the eggs (2-3 per breeding season), but both parents take turns feeding the nestlings.
Yellow Orioles are not threatened in their home range covering a large part of northern South America. They are omnivorous.
Crud, I see the coach loading up and I think Jan and I are the last ones not on board yet. Time to skedaddle or we may get left behind. Unlike our bus tours of New Zealand, these weren’t doing a headcount before leaving a location.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Yellow Oriole photos, please visit here.
Credits Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this story.
I love these brightly coloured birds. Our northern birds don’t seem to have the bright colours, but it would probably seriously interfere with their camouflage if they did.
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Stunning bird.
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