We are in Hamilton, Canada and although we are close to conservation land, this is still an urban area. We were so excited this year to have a male Baltimore Oriole show up about a month ago at our hummingbird feeder. We quickly set up an Oriole feeder with sugar water and several Orioles came for about a month......very regularly. 4 days ago they stopped coming. Now I'm wondering why. We set up another feeder close by (4 feet?) with sunflower seeds and the sparrows flocked to it. Did they scare the orioles off? We also had a movie being filmed on our street for 2 days and although the crew was very respectful, there was a lot of activity about 50 feet from the feeder. The feeder is located behind a few trees, so there was a certain amount of privacy. Or.....did the family of orioles just move on because the young left the nest? I read in another post that they only stay for about 3 weeks but this is in a different geography than ours. My friend in a more rural area says her orioles stay until early September. I am so sorry to see them go. They were such a pleasure. Thanks for your advice!
Question about Orioles
You will need to move the seed feeder much farther away, the orioles scare off easily. Yours will hopefully be back after the area around their feeders gets peaceful enough for them again.
Also I have noticed that when they first arrive they are very active at the feeders but it then drops off a bit. I assume this is during the nesting period. Then it slowly picks up again and then they are bringing babies!!
Thank you for your replies. I did move the seed feeder and.......my husband saw an Oriole back today! They're definitely not as active but I'm hoping it'll pick up again as you suggest, nanny 56. I'd love to see the babies. The bird pictures on this site are wonderful and I'm excited to have found such a good resource. Thanks again!
Just started seeing the orioles again myself. We have a nest that we can see pretty easy and I have not seen any activity. Should see a little head poking out by now. Although I do not have much time to watch right now.
Nice to see them into the jelly. Looking forward to seeing the fledges on the branches waiting for their grape treats.
Sharon,
Another thing to consider with your Oriole numbers is a few weeks ago you probably had a lot of birds migrating north and stopping at your feeder for a fuel up. Now they're settling down on territory, courting and building their nests so there won't be as many birds passing through and they won't be as actively feeding, they'll be busy doing other things. Also once they're on territory, they'll identify mutliple feeding areas (find the fruit bushes, hawk insects, etc) and that will limit their use of your feeder also. It's a lot like hummers, you get to see lots while they migrate through, then they just about dissapear while the female incubates and hawks bugs, then the numbers spike as the young fledge and the norhtern birds start pushing south and everyone builds up their fat deposits for the long migration.
Thanks so much! We're not worrying as much now when we don't see the orioles for a day or so. They are coming to the feeders (I added a new one in the back yard and they've found it too!). We just enjoy them so much when we do see them! And we get other birds at the oriole feeders who we enjoy greatly too....woodpeckers, chickadees, and of course our busy, little hummers.
I noticed juvie orioles yesterday at the feeders!!
Whooooooooo Hooooooo!