First Oriole

[MN Shutterbug]

A short time ago I counted 4 male, 1 female and 1 male Orchard Oriole. Lotsa color.

[jentz]

Just saw my first 2 males this morning,I can hear one singing at the time Gross beaks are yet unseen.Soon I hope.

[eyeguy 54]

half a dozen grossbeaks now. 3 orioles. hope to see an orchard again this spring. last spring was great!

[Ganger]

Orioles just showed up here this morning. Harris and white-crowns last week. No grosbeaks yet. I am in exteme SW corner of the state.

[MN Shutterbug]

Orioles just showed up here this morning. Harris and white-crowns last week. No grosbeaks yet. I am in exteme SW corner of the state.

Welcome Ganger. How extreme in SW MN are you?

I'm up to 7 Baltimores and 1 Orchard. It's a real flurry of orange when all the Baltimores are flying around at one time. This is definitely a record for me. It was my goal to attract lots of Orioles this spring and I'm happy to say, I succeeded.

I was surprised to see that Grosbeaks also like grape jelly. I only have a couple females at this time but I'd think the boys would show up pretty soon. I was also happy to see that they like safflower seeds as I have no sunflower seeds available for larger birds.

[eyeguy 54]

Welcome aboard Ganger!

[Dotch]

Welcome Ganger! 4 male Baltimore type orioles at samich time and like Mike said, Mr. grosbeak was also helping himself to the jelly while the female watched. Loads of white-crowned sparrows today. Must be replacements for all the juncos that left last week.

[eyeguy 54]

send some white crowns this way, all I have are white throats and others.

[Dotch]

Sure. Got any spare goldfinches?

[MN Shutterbug]

Trading birds these days?

[eyeguy 54]

Man that was fast! went outside again and there were 2 white crown. thx for sending them! Almost walked right up to them. Pics in the other thread. I look kinda silly sitting in the back yard with camo on but what the heck. Some shots I can get thru the window or by openning the patio door.

[Dotch]

De nada. Didn't get back to the confuser until a minute ago and I was gonna say the same thing. Goldfinches suddenly all over the place. Thanks!

[flipper]

Birds sure were active today. Quite a few orioles and saw the Grosbeaks for the first time. Also was happy to see the red headed woodpecker at the suet feeder this morning.

[MN Shutterbug]

That would make my day, to see a Red-headed Woodpecker in my yard. Although, I have to say that I can't complain about today. My total tally for today was 6 male and 2 female Baltimore Orioles, 1 male Orchard Oriole and my first hummer at the Oriole nectar feeder. Also, 2 female RB Grosbeaks.

I was quite surprised to see an Oriole dining on my peanut nugget feeder.

[eyeguy 54]

red bellied woodpeckers are in my yard year round. 23 years here and not a red headed sighting yet. maybe some day.

[delcecchi]

Thanks to you guys I put up my oriole feeder and my hummingbird feeder. This morning, 5 or 6 orioles (when did they bring back the "baltimore" name?) and a couple of hummers.

They were all agnostic about which feeder.

Guess it is time to pick up some grape jelly and go back to war with the varmints to protect it.

[Dotch]

Kewl Del! I counted up to 8 this a.m. although they were flying around at such a frenetic pace it was hard to keep count. No orchards yet but am waiting patiently. Think they nested in the maple here last year. Speaking of fast moving, black and white warblers were about this a.m. How anyone could get a good photo of one of those is beyond me. Hummer feeder still needs to be put out. Have a window model that was on Mom's window at the care center before she passed away. Tried putting one like it on the south-facing sliding glass door a few years ago but couldn't make it stick very long, this after following all their instructions to a T. Any ideas?

Dunno on the "Baltimore" moniker. I know for a while about 20 years ago some of the birding elite/intellectuals were trying to quash any non-conformists by calling them "northern orioles-Baltimore race". They were almost snotty about it. Now they seem to have backed off somewhat. Next thing you they'll let us mere mortals go back to calling kestrels sparrow hawks and northern harriers marsh hawks! This is about enjoying nature for what it is in my book, not a contest to see who is smarter or more correct than who. That's what I've enjoyed about the people in the bird watching threads here. Fun season to watch the migration progress so far!

[eyeguy 54]

yes indeed dotch. great in here. lottsa guys that know their birdies. Anybody see an indigo bunting yet? we usually see one about this time of the year for a few days.

[flipper]

I saw three of the indigo buntings feeding on the ground this morning before a shower. I think that is the most of them I have seen at one time ever. I am in the Waseca area.

[eyeguy 54]

sweet !

[MN Shutterbug]

I've had just 1 Indigo in my yard and he stayed about 2 minutes 2 years ago. However, I did set a new record on Grosbeaks this morning. I had just 2 females yesterday and this morning 8 males showed up. The girls must be pretty good looking. It was fun to look out the window and see all the orange in the tree and on the feeders along with the red, white and black of the Grosbeaks and bright yellow on the finches. It's been a good week to be a bird watcher. This is my 4th year at this house and I've never had so much fun. I do think it helps that the Grackles aren't overly attracted to my yard anymore. They can't get at the sunflower seeds and don't care too much for the safflower. The other birds feel more comfortable and aren't chased off right away.

[MN Shutterbug]

Fun watching them squabble.

[MN Shutterbug]

Not to get off the Oriole subject, but I just had a Yellow Warbler show up. First time I've ever seen one in town.

[delcecchi]

OK, got a jar of grape jelly. What kind of feeder works best? Right now I am thinking of hanging either an aluminum disposable pie plate, or a piece of board, from a tree branch, maybe 6 feet off ground. Is it worth making a roof to keep rain off jelly? What should spacing be?

I'm sure that an hour or two of google would turn up plans but this is easier

[MN Shutterbug]

Last year I just used a tuna can on my platform feeder so I don't think it makes any difference. A roof doesn't really help much and they don't seem to mind watery jelly. I still think orange paint or maybe a red flag would even help attract them to the jelly. On my homemade feeder shown in the previous video, I spaced the roof 8 inches above the feeder.