Oriolus oriolus
Oriolus oriolus
This species ranges from the Atlantic to Mongolia (BirdLife International, 2024). In Europe it has a very widespread distribution and is only absent in northern Russia and Fennoscandia (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain it is present as a breeder on the peninsula, Ceuta and Melilla, and is absent from the Balearic and Canary archipelagos (Casaux in SEO/BirdLife, 2022). It is distributed in humid Mediterranean environments of the central-western peninsula and avoids the Eurosiberian region, the axial Pyrenees, and the arid areas of the southeast and the Ebro valley.
In Madrid it has a broad distribution across the entire region, being absent only in high mountain areas and deforested zones in the south. It occupies deciduous forests, especially oak woods (melojares), ash groves, and riparian forests. It is also found in holm oak forests and in parks and orchards in Madrid (Díaz et al., 1994).
In the fieldwork for this atlas, it was detected in only four grid squares, located in the oak woods of the northeastern edge, in riparian forests in the foothills to the south, or in the mixed oak woods of the eastern Lozoya valley.
This species is present during the breeding season in riparian forests and deciduous woodlands such as oak woods, holm oak forests, and cork oak forests. It also occurs in tree crops and agro-pastoral mosaics, avoiding forest environments dominated by conifers and treeless areas. Its altitudinal range extends from sea level up to 1,500 m a.s.l., with an optimum around 700–800 m a.s.l. It is more abundant in forest “islands” than in continuous forest masses (Brotons, 2007; Santos et al., 2002; Sirami et al., 2009).
In the park it is present only in forested environments, specifically in deciduous woodland stands located at the lowest and warmest elevations.
At a global scale, it is considered to be in the category of Least Concern (LC; 2024). In Europe it would also be classified in the same category (LC; 2021). In Spain it is considered a Least Concern species in the 2021 Red List.
The Catalogue of Threatened Species of the Community of Madrid (1992) does not classify the species in any threat category.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Brotons, L. 2007. Biodiversidad en mosaicos forestales mediterráneos: el papel de la heterogeneidad y del contexto paisajístico. En Camprodon, J. y Plana, E. (eds.): Conservación de la biodiversidad, fauna vertebrada y gestión forestal. Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
Santos, T., Tellería, J. L. y Carbonell, R. 2002. Bird conservation in fragmented Mediterranean forests of Spain: effects of geographical location, habitat and landscape degradation. Biological Conservation, 105: 113-125.
SEO/BirLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A., Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R., Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Sirami, C., Brotons, L. y Martin, J. L. 2009. Do bird spatial distribution patterns reflect population trends in changing landscapes? Landscape Ecology, 24: 893-906.