Bird Word: Oriental

Oriental: the region consisting of the Himalayas, India, SE Asia and Indonesia.

The term “oriental” refers to birds of a particular region of the world. It also happens to be the only region of the world I have visited outside of Australia. In 2005-06 I had a wonderful trip to Thailand and Nepal. You can read all about my adventures, including trekking near Mt Everest, on my blog called Trevor’s Travels.

Oriental can also be part of the name of some species. For example, the only one I can think of in the Australian context is the Oriental Cuckoo, also known as the Himalayan Cuckoo. It occurs in the northern and north eastern parts of Australia. This is one species on my “yet to see list.”