Oriole sighting

Hi, I saw an Oriole this morning. Ilive in Southern Wis. and have them here all spring and summer. I feed them Oranges, grape jelly, nectar and mealworms(expensive, but love them!) I get Baltimore and Orchard ones here.

Thats great!!! I've just gotten some more tips on attracting Orioles like putting peels of Oranges around on fence posts and the like along w/ some feeders w/ nectar,grape jelly and of course orange halves.

If you have a camera we would love to see your set up! :-)

Gee! That's really early for the Orioles, isn't it?! You'll have to send your sighting in to Journey North! Did you see it at your feeder?

We aren't expecting them here until the end of April.

I'm going to put out my "Oriole Lures" tomorrow-- a new nectar feeder, my orange slices, grape jelly, and an orange ribbon.

I guess I forgot that Orioles like the meal worms. I put a few in my feeder every day, but I thought I was doing it for the Bluebirds....

For anyone interested, here's an Oriole Migration Map: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/current.html?layers=oriole_sighted

And an essay about the Baltimore Oriole from 'Birds by Bent': http://birdsbybent.com/ch41-50/oriole.html

I know it's early to see one...I was surprised also, but I think it's due to my large population of them through out the season with the feeding and all. The mealworms are wonderful for them and they love them! I don't get bluebirds, but jays and robins like to eat them too. I really do it for the orioles though. I go through a lot of grape jelly also. The oranges are ok in the early season, but jelly and mealworms seem to be the best. I almost forgot about the nectar...they drink from my hummingbird feeders and from the oriole one I have. I put out plates(glued on) copper poles and put my mealworms on those through out my garden. I feed the mealworms in the morning and in the early evening. They really seem to know when to come for them, it's a routine here for them. I'll post some pictures later on.

This message was edited Apr 5, 2008 8:15 PM

Looking forward to seeing some pics. I will plan on getting my feeder out.

Pelle, good tip on orange peels on the fence!

maherbie--you are so lucky to have such a community of orioles there! What kinds of trees and bushes do you have that they seem to like? Thanks for posting.

For those interested here are some examples of Oriole feeders:

http://www.oriolefeeder.biz/

And some specific suggestions for attracting orioles to the yarden from About.com (have a scroll down and look at the photo attachments)

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ab-birding&nav=messages&msg=3210.1

That IS early!

http://my.pclink.com/~rlovgren/nature5.htm

I was just questioning any sighting of orioles on another thread! A neighbor of mine said she spotted one within the past couple days. I did not see it. This is a relatively early spring here in western NY, and we had a mild winter - some blue birds did not migrate, but stayed here. I saw them in February, but haven't see them since.

I put out oranges today. I can't put out jelly since a night creature - oppossum, racoon ? - also likes it. I'll put out mealworms tomorrow.

Thanks for the oriole feeder sites sybil and tabasco! They were very helpful.

That is early OP; I thought they werent to NY till May.

There is one on the map that was spotted in Whitehall NY recently.

and my friend in the UK says it snowed today. Is it too warm, is it too cold...? I dunno.

OP, you just answered my next question about the jelly. It had just occurred to me the raccoons would be enjoying that unless I bring in the feeder at night. I have to bring in the suet and the BOSS feeder anyway so what's one more!

Oh my! No Orioles to be found in that mess I'd bet! (Do you see Orioles where you are?)

Nope, we don't get them here

Resin

That is too bad. They are pretty and wonderful to watch. You have better looking robins though.

Even with snow, Resin, your yard is so pretty. No wonder you get so many birdy visitors!

Not my yard - it's the local school sports field ;-)

:-) I thought it looked like a sports field.

I thought it did too, but I know Resin has a lot of property for the birds to enjoy...at least it seems so. (-:

I wish!!!

Resin, Baron of Birds???

Yes, I was going to say if he owned that land he might be Lord Resin!

:D Great minds…

LOL Ah, well, let's nominate someone from the forum to go over to the UK and snoop around!

His yard bird list is huge, you know.

And didn't he say something about having the royal swans waddle through his place?

(Just kidding)

Let's just hold a King bird coronation here for him. Then maybe he can get more land for his royal bird subjects.

Actually, I don't have a yard list at all . . . over here a yard is an old-fashioned term for 0.9144 metres, the thing you grow plants in and look for birds in, is called a garden

;-)

LOL Yes, 'yard' is kind of an ugly word and I like the term 'garden' better too. I suppose one could say 'estate bird list' if one is thinking of something with acres of lawns and woods and gardens and fields and ha-ha s! And maybe peacocks if not royal swans.

Okay, what are you all drinking(or whatever) ?! And why didn't I get any??

They are drinking a YARD of ale. Meanwhile Nanny, perhaps you can write Resin's coronation speech. We're making him royalty you know. Giving him more land. Perhaps He'd like Scotland for his own.

Oh I have always wanted to go to Scotland!

" My loyal subjects, give me your unidentified bird and I shall give them names..."

This message was edited Apr 7, 2008 10:44 PM

ROTFL.

The thread has happily been hijacked by URFO ( the Unified Resin Fanclub Organization).

So sorry to hijack this thread... it really got away from the Orioles. (-;

Nevertheless, I wanted to post this Wiki article about Northumberland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northumberland

Sounds like a marvelously moody place--

Nice crest too. Although we will have to make a few changes to it (get rid of the griffons and add some birds).

And will someone please add Resin's bio to the 'famous people' list at the bottom?!

Wow! That sounds like a fascinating place to go!

Okay back to topic!! Anymore sightings maherbie?

No sightings in my "yard." A titmouse and a downie seemed interested in the orange halves but couldn't perch near them. I moved the oranges nearer a sturdier limb. Will keep watch today.

Sorry not to respond to your comments of April 6th Pelle. I think you are correct - this is very early for orioles. We have a very late spring - sometimes light snow the middle of May. Our climate seems to be changing - very mild winters with little to no snow until the end of the year, and then heavy snow in March. Odd.

I think I heard that we were in a La Niña Pattern. Which in the midwest would mean cold spring, hot summer.

Shrug.