Orioles are a coming

[micpic]

One foot on the bar!

Let's Chow

[harvey lee]

Nice shot.

[JayinMN]

Looks like he just had a bath or got caught in a little rain. What are you using as a feeder?

[micpic]

Jason, that's a 2"pvc pipe with a cap on it. To that i screwed a plastic jar lid to it and filled it with grape jelly. What's nice about that is you can just pop off the pipe cap with the lid screwed to it and take it in and wash and refill it.

I also have a liquid feeder that they use and fill that with a mix of one cup sugar to six cups water. Use yellow and red food coloring to make it orange.

I need to work on the perch to cover the feeder part and make it look more natural.

Mike

[Dotch]

Thanks for sharing your oriole pics! Very handsome male of the species. We're ready and waiting for them to appear in SC MN but aside from a few scattered unconfirmed reports, nada. Good to know they're getting closer.

[wishing for walleyes]

Great pictures of a very pretty bird.I had a male and a female at my feeders saturday morning.

[not_nuf_time]

There here, first one of the season. My wife waits for them every year, kind of neat how they came on Mothers Day.

[MN Shutterbug]

Cool shots. I haven't seen any yet this year.

[Dotch]

I saw one today near Trout Run east and south of Chatfield. None at home I'm aware of yet.

[RainyEye]

Had a male here this morning at the jelly feeder!

[delcecchi]

Just had a female at the feeder in Rochester. Ate jelly. My feeder is a plastic flowerpot saucer hanging from a tree branch by the wires off an old hanging basket.

Now if I can keep the woodpeckers off the sugarwater feeder.....

[flipper]

I saw my first oriole, catbird and grosbeak today in the Waseca area.

[katoguy]

Do NOT use food coloring to sugar water feeders! It is unnecessary and possibly harmful. (Jury is out on the potential negatives, but it certainly isn't necessary.)

A quick google search will give you lots of reading.

[Dotch]

I'm basically getting lazier so no longer color the nectar. Cuts into my nap time. Will just say it's an unnecessary step and leave it at that. One thing that is necessary however is keeping the feeders clean. Dirty feeders have been shown to put birds at greater risk for disease. You wouldn't eat off the same plate or drink out of the same glass you've shared with someone else for a couple weeks, would you? Immersing the feeders in a 9:1 hot water:bleach solution works, a brush to clean inside helps, followed by a thorough rinsing with hot water and drying. One thing I do is to have a couple sets of feeders. It allows me to have a clean one ready to go to replace the dirty one which can then be cleaned at my leisure.

PS - first oriole was singing here this a.m.

[DonBo]

Saw our first on Monday. Big male. First female just showed yesterday.

[B. Amish]

seen my first oriole today in Detroit Lakes.