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Posted: May/19/2009 1:28 PM PST
Beautiful bird. I've had my feeder (oranges, grape jelly, nectar) out for 4 weeks here in Cincinnati and haven't seen on Oriole. Is it too late to attract them? I am just wondering if I should leave the feeder out or take it down? |
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Posted: May/19/2009 6:11 PM PST
Cinci, according to reports submitted to ebird.org there are currently baltimore orioles in your area. Check out the ebird maps to see exactly where people are seeing them. Remember, after seeing one oriole on April 27-28 I went three weeks without seeing another. I had three at the feeder this morning and two of them have been returning for jelly all day. Last year I had a pair of orioles show up in early June and stay for the rest of the month. |
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Posted: May/19/2009 7:41 PM PST
Thanks. It's encouraging to hear that some may show up late as June. I'll check the map too. 
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Posted: May/21/2009 12:32 PM PST
The orioles that showed up a couple days ago have already left. It seems May is just a fly-through month around here. What I'm hoping for is another May visit and then a June pair that stay for a few weeks like last year. That would really make this a good season. |
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Posted: May/21/2009 2:10 PM PST
Wow, less than two hours after I posted about the latest orioles leaving, a brand new male oriole just stopped at the jelly feeder. This is definitely a different male because it is flame-orange and the one that left yesterday morning was pretty yellow. I would have missed this male's visit because I wasn't watching, but he made a series of loud whistles that I had never heard before. I knew it was a strange call so I quickly looked out the window and saw him on the shepherd hook. This is great. I have already had five orioles this season. Hopefully, this latest male will stay for a day or two to fill up on jelly. That seems to be the pattern. |
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Posted: May/22/2009 5:11 AM PST
Maybe I need to replace the nectar with grape jelly? My feeder has two containers and I have jelly in one of them. Maybe two will bring better luck? There's been 3 sightings within 2 miles of my home in May. So my fingers are crossed.  Glad to see your having fun with them! I hope he or others stay for a while. 
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Posted: May/22/2009 7:55 AM PST
All you can do is make sure orioles flying in from the south can see the feeder. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but, because my feeder is partially blocked from south view by a tree and I hadn't seen an oriole in three weeks, I decided to put another orange half on a clothes-line pole at the unobstructed back corner of the yard. Since then I've seen four orioles in four days. If your feeder already has jelly, I don't think swapping out the nectar for more jelly will help any. Most orioles passing through here don't seem to be interested in nectar, but it can't hurt to give them the choice. I don't supply nectar in the oriole feeder because I've never seen them drink from it and it's too big of a pain to keep cleaning and refilling it. I do have a hummingbird feeder and this season's first oriole did drink from it. Yesterday's new oriole must've been on his way north because I haven't seen him again. |
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Posted: Jun/03/2009 5:38 AM PST
No Orioles yet, but still have the feeder up. |
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Posted: Jun/03/2009 6:42 AM PST
Sorry to hear that, Cinci. I did see another female oriole six days ago, but, like the others, she didn't stick around. It was four days from now last year when a pair of orioles arrived and nested in the area, so I still have a bit of hope they might return this June. If I don't see them in the next ten days I'll have to assume I won't see another oriole until south migration in a few months. |
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Posted: Jun/09/2009 8:02 PM PST
I've seen another two males in the last four days, but only once each. The first one came while it was raining and I had the umbrella attached to the shepherd hook. The oriole went to the staging tree and then flew in and clung to the pole a couple inches from the jelly feeder, but then flew away. I'm not sure why it didn't land on the feeder and eat. The other male flew in this afternoon while I was in the yard. He got spooked and flew off before eating. I've now seen eight orioles this season, compared to three last year, but I've been frustrated by their unwillingness to stick around. Half of them only stayed a couple days and the other half ate once or not at all and left. Last year one stayed five days and the other two stayed three weeks. |
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