New here - awesome sight (Oriole question with in)

Fantastic site.
I have been a bird lover all my life. As of late (over the past 2 years) I have noticed a beautiful bird song that I could hear thru-out the day. I was NEVER able to locate the bird. That was until 7 days ago. To my surprise - it was an Oriole (orchard variety I beleive) - my ALL time favorite bird - even though I have never seen one live.

So we finally spotted him, and immediately went out and bought a feeder for him (nectar, Oriole Feeder) and hung some oranges on the tree. a few days later - he was in our tree eating :)

what else is a good way to attract these beautiful creations?

we also have Cardinals, Finches (purple and gold), sparrows, starling, and cow birds - Blue Jays occasionally, wood peckers (downy), chickadee's

the darn squirrel broke the rope from our hanging feeder and it crashed into the ground, so I relocated it and mounted it to the flag pole - haven't seen a bird since - and its been 3 days. will they return? are they startled because its in a new location?

They also like grape jelly. Do you have a shepheards hook you could hang the feeder from?
I hope they come back for you.

Chances are they will be back. Maybe they just went to get their family & friends.

we have a maple tree - hanging from the maple tree is the Oriole feeder, then about 4' down the same branch is the finch feeder (thistles)
in the crotch of the tree is the oranges.

about 15' over is the flag pole, and we have an "L" bracket with a feeder on it.

all said feeders are 5'-8' high

we also have a shepards hook under the Maple tree with a Light House looking bird feeder that NO ONE is touching :(

i will take a picture of our set up and share it with you when i get home

Very good! BTW Welcome to the forum! So glad to have another bird lover here!

I would think about moving the shepheards hook away from the maple tree. They probably are afraid to use it because a predator could come from above in the tree and it wouldn't give them much of a chance for escape.

What type of bird seed are you using in the lighthouse feeder?

Does your oriole feeder have a center post? I put the post through orange halves so they are mounted on the feeder, and grape jelly in the little dimples between the holes. The house finches love the oranges, too, though, so if they get pesky I remove them.

I am using just "regular" bird seed - the stuff you buy at the store "Morning Song" i think is the brand - should I use something different?

I will relocate the shepherds hook and see what happens.

Oriole feeder has a clear bubble on top where the nectar is. It has an orange colored base with 4 perches and 4 feeder holes. its hung from a bent coat hanger. I can "modify" the hanger to add some oranges above the feeder, with some grape jelly. The nectar is orange in color as well.

I have 2 nails in the tree, bent up at 45 degrees and i just cut the oranges in 1/2 and jab them thru the nails. the oranges are probably 6" up from the "y" (crotch) of the tree. 1/2 orange on each side.

bad weather last night didn't make it possible for me to take a pic of my set up. Will try again tonight. the squirrel (blasted thing) found the feeder mounted to the flag pole - and knocked the cover off. might have to grease the flag pole. great - more mess for my youngins to find :)

This message was edited May 16, 2007 7:59 AM

I'm not really familiar with the brand of bird seed you mentioned but as long as its fresh and hasn't been sitting around for months it should be okay. I personally like the Nut n Berry mix myself, it seems to draw a large variety of birds.

You can probably put the oranges nearby as you are doing, Bleepster. My feeder is a flat shallow vessel with a long post that screws into it. There are 'dimples' in the cover for the jelly and the oranges fit in the center. There are several types the manufacturers call "oriole feeders."

As to nectar - don't use the commercial colored stuff. There is a suspicion that the coloring can cause problems with the birds, and it's not necessary. Use sugar and water in a 1:4 ratio (1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup water) - you can boil it if you want to, but just make sure it is thoroughly dissolved. If they don't finish it in three or four days, replace it and wash the feeder with hot soapy water. I've heard some people change it daily, but my hummers are here year round (I sometimes name them) and do fine.

Have fun!

thanks for the tips

perhaps a silly question, are Orioles attracted to the color orange?

I found a nice feeder on-line that I know I can make at home for a fraction of the cost, was wondering if i needed to paint it orange or if natural wood will be fine

found these pics on the internet - think I may make one - or both :)

here is the other

Hi, from another part of MI.
I made an oriole feeder (it is in the frugal section here)
Here is the link.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/716276/

I thought I would add a few comments as we should have simular birds. I use just the sunflower seeds in my feeders and get a large variety of birds. I have been hanging oranges for the last couple years for the orioles, but made the feeder this year. They are almost ignoring the oranges and just gobbling the grape jelly. I have at least 3 pairs and a spotted a nest being built nearby. I have seen orioles nearly nonstop in this feeder, so I am very happy with the results.
I do believe the oranges (orange color) attracts them.
What a wonderful bird to see. Hope you have good luck.

You can definitely make that for the orioles - it's great! And they might even sit still for a minute to eat from it! lol
Here's one link I found about attracting them. http://stokesbirdsathome.com/birding/feeding/feedingpages/feeding108.html

thanks - i will make one over the weekend
I will also post some pics I took about a week ago of some of the birds that visit our yard. Stay tuned :)

Cpart - that's a great feeder. I've got to have one of these. We get hooded orioles here and they are VERY jumpy - are the Baltimores that way, too? They move in quick jerky fashion, and rarely if ever sit still. This year I have seen several pairs, so I'm sure the bowl of jelly will please them.

Bleepster, great pic. beautiful bird. Ive seen a couple this yr. no luck getting them to a feeder.

@oriole,

I cant take credit for the pic. I stated that I found that pic on the interent to show the feeder I want to make.

Once i get better with the camera, i will attemp to take photos :)

Yes, the grape jelly slows them down....about as much as a hummingbird. Maybe it is the sugar....huh?
My daughter just emailed me that she opened a candy bar and inside it read "candy is a snack and should be eaten in moderation" (might not be a direct quote, I was laughing to hard when I read it) Now I am not laughing. I know why my grandparents were cranky when they got old.

this may be dumb but what brand of grape jelly works? I had no luck with a cheap store brand, but also see that Welch;'s lists high frutcose cornsyrup in ingredients too.

Not generic, only name brands (at least thats what I hear from people).

I guess mine orioles are not fussy. I put the store brand out there and they are fighting over it. It was a pretty big jar for 99 cents.
I walked up to get the mail yesterday and had orange flying all around me on my walk. (2 males fighting over a female it looked like) It was lovely. I have been feeding for a couple years now and we have seen nests in the past. This year there are more than ever. I am just thrilled they are coming back.

sorry, I read too fast. I am going to put out some grape jelly and see if I have any luck with it. I have orange halfs out but no luck with them.

My tree is going to get mad at me. I put on the brach (next to the feeder) a small plastic dish. I screwed it to the tree. Probably about 4" in dia, and about 1" deep. put a heeping spoon of grape jelly in it. we'll see what happens.

We have been getting the Orioles at the nectar feeder, and at the oranges. They seem to be most active in the late afternoon.

I took a pic of him last night at the feeder. I cant take photos well. I need better equipment i guess.

will post the picture late on.

I looked out the window this morning and wondered why the orioles were just fluttering around and making squacking noises. Then I saw they had licked the bowl clean. I had just filled it yesterday. I went out in my pjs and scooped some more jelly into it. They were on it before I got back to the house. I see the fresh oranges are just shells. They are hogs, beautiful to look at, lovely to listen to, but still hogs.

I'll take your hogs if you'll take my Starlings,lol.

No thanks. They are hogs, but I love them. We are lucky that we do not have too many starlings. We have some blackbirds and bluejays, but they seem to get along with the other birds ok. There were 2 male orioles fighting over the grape jelly a little while ago. I was working on the deck and they made such a racket. They were really going at it. Must have been a teritorial dispute.

I just saw an Orchard Oriole for the first time this year on May 2nd.
Here is the first photo of two.

Toga, PA

Here's the second photo. May 2nd. Tioga, PA

Their beautiful soulflier!

Very pretty!

What a sweet face!

Thanks, folks!
I've been occasionally putting out the oranges, but I only saw the oriole once. The ants like them though!

My squirrels like them.

Try grape jelly. The ones around here prefer that to oranges. I had run out of the grape, put out some rasberry and they were not at all happy with the change. (I think they were going to picket, or mob or something) So I had to go get some more grape jelly.

chick, thanks. I've read that. I'll have to try it.

Hi everyone,

I, too, have just recently seen a Baltimore Oriole for the first time. I saw two on the wire outside the kitchen window (breathtaking sight!) and then one was in the garden, later that day. Since then, I've seen fleeting glimpses of them a few times. (They are VERY fast!) I did see two fly into the mass of grape vines on a dead tree and only one fly out. I think they may have a nest there.

I would SO love to entice these birds out into the open. So, I decided to set out oranges and grape jelly, like y'all have suggested. But - I didn't want to attract a ton of ants and I wanted clean up to not be a big hassle. So, my dad and I rigged up this thing, to our porch railing, today. It's the silverware drawer (small) to an old dishwasher (you should've seen my mom's face when she saw us setting this up, lol). It's not aesthetically pleasing, but I think it will do the job. So, when we were done setting it up, I went into the house to get an orange and some grape jelly... only to discover we're all out. So I put a grapefruit and some strawberry jelly in it, LOL! So far, no one's touched it - not even the squirrels. (One seemed curious, though.) I don't think the orioles are interested. And if they taste the grapefruit, they might not even try the oranges, when I get some, lol. I'll let y'all know if I get any takers, once I buy the proper food, lol.

~Kris... I usually check these things, before I do something, heh.

I have had Baltimore Oriole in my garden eating Wild Cherry and Mulberries. I have had two youngsters and their parents. Mostly see the female feeding the youngesters. I put out some oranges with absolutely no luck! I have them on a platform feeder close to the house. Should I move them to a branch on the cherry tree maybe?

Advice appreciated.

Sure give it a try. My squirrels were eating all of mine that were in trees.

Do you have any grape jelly out for them?

I live on the southern edge of their range so I have never seen an oriole. The only goldfinces I have seen are the ones with their winter colors as they go north in warm weather.