Black-naped Oriole takes a caterpillar

posted in: Feeding-invertebrates | 2

Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisle023 was on his way to photograph herons in November 2009 when suddenly this Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) flew in front of him. The bird had a biggish caterpillar in its bill, that of Psilogramma menephron (Family Sphingidae), the Privet Hawk Moth. An earlier post showed the Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) manipulating the same caterpillar.

Chris was interested in observing how the oriole was going to eat the caterpillar but the bird flew off.

Check out how birds handle caterpillars HERE. Hairy caterpillars need special treatment before swallowing, as seen HERE.

Image by Chris Lee.
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This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

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