Lantern Oriole

The Lantern Oriole is a medium-sized songbird with a thick pointed bill and sturdy body. The plumage of males displays bright orange or yellow-orange on the underparts, rump, and shoulders, the rest of the plumage being black. Females are far more muted, yellow-brown with a tint of orange on breast and belly. Both sexes have white bars on their wings.

Lantern Orioles range across the Blessed Isle and into the coastal Southern Threshold. They are known for their bold song, usually heard sung from treetops well before the bird can be sighted. Their diet consists of insects and fruit, with the birds showing a definite preference for fruits in darker shades of red and purple. They enjoy juice and nectar over more solid foodstuffs, and are known to sometimes feed on fruits by piercing them with their beaks and then opening to create a gash from which their tongues lap up juices as the beak keeps it open.

Like many songbirds, Lantern Orioles face predation by avian predators such as raptors and owls.

Lantern Orioles are thought to be named for the plumage of the male, the orange and black reminiscent of lanterns lighting the darkness of night. Lantern Orioles are used to show an individual as an Imperially-sanctioned Performer in the mandarin squares of the Thousand Scales.