orioles - Orchid Board

Dollythehun · #1 05-12-2018, 07:48 PM

This has been a great bird watching year! We have two or three pairs of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and I don't know how many Orioles! We have winter wrens, and all the usual customers!

This is the second wave of Orioles. We first had Baltimore Orioles, now we appear to have orchard Orioles. However, I read that they have interbred and it's not so easy to tell them apart now (someone may correct me). Anyway, the fourth one flew away right before I snapped the picture.

WhiteRabbit · #2 05-12-2018, 09:36 PM

Cool!
The past few years, I been getting a pair of Hooded Orioles visiting my yard. They like my hummingbird feeders

Last summer, I got a jelly feeder for them, and they like that too! I have not been able to get any worthwhile photos of them, tho

Dollythehun · #3 05-12-2018, 09:55 PM

They loved my jelly too. But, it's been rainy and the jelly would just melt. It's funny to watch them eat it, it looked like their beaks were stuck together and they were smacking their lips. The Hummers eat out of the same feeder. So sometimes there's a bit of a stand off.

Mountaineer370 · #4 05-13-2018, 10:23 AM

It's been a good spring for bird-watching around here, too. I have a male Baltimore oriole who has learned to eat from my suet feeder. I've also seen him at my regular feeder, eating the black sunflower seeds. He tried at first to use the hummingbird feeder, but seemed to be having difficulty. He's the only one I've seen so far, though. No sign of a female.

We also have an abundance of rose-breasted grosbeaks, cardinals, and finches. The ones that I usually see in abundance but not so much this year are the grackles. I don't mind them, but they can be a nuisance in large numbers, so I don't really miss them.

Dollythehun · #5 05-13-2018, 10:26 AM

This morning we had 5 Orioles! A baby bluebird visited and our grossbeaks and Orioles learned quickly about suet! Better than an expensive vacation! I, and we have a winter wren. Carolina wren in the winter and winter wren in the spring. Lol.

Leafmite · #6 05-13-2018, 05:49 PM

I have been enjoying the blue jays and cardinals as well as all the smaller birds (I have no idea what most of them are). I actually enjoy grackles. They always seem to get along well with the other birds and warn the other birds when there is a cat or hawk.

Mountaineer370 · #7 05-13-2018, 07:34 PM

Yes!!! I just saw a female companion for my male Baltimore oriole. Both of them were at the suet feeder. I'm hoping they decide this is a nice place to build a nest.

I also saw a red-headed woodpecker at one of my feeders today. What a gorgeous bird! I think it's the first time I've seen one of them on my property. I hope he sticks around. We commonly have downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and hairy woodpeckers.

Leafmite, I love blue jays, too! And I do think the grackles are pretty. It's just that they tend to make a mess at the feeders, shoveling all the seed out onto the ground. Oh, well, the doves are happy to eat what they throw down.