The earlier post by Sun Chong Hong showing the nesting of the Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) on video attracted the attention of Margie Hall.
“Interesting to see that this nest is actually a suspended structure hanging from the small forked branches, rather than sitting in the junction of the forked branches (above left). We can only see the connections to two of the branches but I would presume it is also connected to the third branch behind,” wrote Margie.
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS added he had seen oriole’s nests in Ipoh, in the Malaysian state of Perak, similarly ‘suspended’ (above right). One of the pair would build the nest while the other would undertake ‘look our duty’. The bird would use its body to firm up the nest.
To enable a better understanding of how the nest is secured to the forks, Sun Chong Hong sent in a composite picture of the nest taken from three different positions (above). “Moving from left to right corresponds to a ground movement of about 90 degrees from left to right when viewed towards the nest (4th view blocked by leaves). It looks like the vines are only twisted around two branches,” wrote Chong Hong.
All images by Sun Chong Hong except top right by Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS.
Addendum by Sun Chong Hong (9th May 2011):
“I had a re-look after I posted the comment [above]: ‘It looks like the vines are only twisted around two branches’. I realised that the nest was actually anchored on 3 branches. See the [replaced images above]”