April 5th – Q & A: Orioles

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Stunning male Baltimore Oriole. -CR

Yesterday Rachel Vaarkamp asked this question on the Ruthven Banding Station Facebook page:
Would you be able to do a post on best way to attract orioles to your feeders?
This question is very timely. Do you realize that the first orioles will be back within a month…or even less?! You now will have time to prepare. Remember, most of these birds will have made the long flight from Mexico or Central America. They’ve used up a LOT of energy and will be VERY hungry. They will be looking for a food source that is quickly digested and rich in calories. Although they feed insects to their growing young, on their wintering grounds they consume a lot of nectar – a rich food source that is quickly digested.

When we first started banding I didn’t pay much attention to feeding orioles. When Nancy started to band hummingbirds I did notice that a few orioles would go to the hummingbird feeders to drink the sugar-water.

Plant basket holder feeder with a martini glass full of grape jelly – we have found this feeder to be the most effective. For best effect, orioles like their jelly shaken, not stirred. -KMP

But then a couple of years ago we had a visitor of vintage years from the St. Catherines area. She asked if it would be ok to put up an “oriole feeder” that she thought would be quite effective. As we encourage people to get involved I said sure, go ahead, thinking what do I have to lose…..Well what I had to lose was a considerable amount of money trying to keep the feeder filled! The orioles loved it.
Adult male Baltimore (left) and Orchard Oriole. -KMP

It’s a pretty simple design: you take a wire holder from a hanging plant; cut out one small cross piece; and suspend from the bottom a martini glass; then hang; fill the glass with grape jelly. Presto! You’re in business – but make sure you’ve got LOTS of grape jelly on hand. Last year the local grocery store ran out of grape (there were a number of people copying our feeder after visiting). We found that orioles really like orange marmalade as well and they will even take straight up strawberry/raspberry or apricot jam (whatever I could find in my fridge). However, grape jelly is their favourite, followed closely by marmalade. To entice (and nourish) the birds even more, lay down some orange slices beside the martini glass on the wire mesh. One important caveat: when using the martini glass orioles prefer their jelly shaken not stirred…..
Male orioles: Baltimore on the left; Orchard on the right.

Last Spring we had excellent banding results for orioles. We banded record numbers of both species: 26 Orchard Orioles (old record – 16) and an astounding 117 Baltimore Orioles (vs 51). I attribute this, in part, to our use of this particular type of feeder (although it was generally a good year for orioles throughout the east).
More oriole feeder pictures:
The 2 types of feeders are busy: Orchard Oriole on the left; male and female Baltimore Oriole on the right. I don’t see any green leaves in the background so this must have been early in May – a time when a rich food source can have a large beneficial impact on birds finishing a long migratory flight. -DOL

Orioles seem to be attracted to things orange – especially when there’s an orange half attached!

An “oriole feeder” is just like a hummingbird feeder – only orange. Hummingbird feeders are generally red, not that it makes much difference to an oriole: they’ll feed from both. This is an adult male Orchard Oriole. – KMP

Female orioles at the feeder: Baltimore on the left; Orchard on the right. –

Orchard Oriole taking advantage of a “hummingbird feeder”. -MMG

I put up two hanging basket-type feeders at home and we found that we were going through a bottle of grape jelly every 2 days. So stock up!
Rick

1 thought on “April 5th – Q & A: Orioles”

  1. Brenda B

    This is a very interesting post, I love the idea for a feeder. I live in an apartment building, do you think I could attract orioles to my balcony? I face green space across the road. They are such beautiful birds.

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