Northern Baltimore Oriole

Great shots, Mitch, quite a feast.

Thanks Allen. Well, I'll take good care of them while they are here and send them back fat for you.

Thanks Peter. Do these guys make it that far North?

Wonderful shots Mitch. I've yet to see one.

Good job! I have not seen one yet with camera in tow. They are great lookin' birdies.

Thanks Bill and Grizz. Thats what I was saying until yesterday. Just generalizing, they seem to apper to like younger trees which should have more bugs on them and they seem to like it nearer an open water source. But I'm also going to try the grape jelly and orange slices bait to see if that works.

Very nice series, I would love to photagraph an Oriole. Also all these ideas about orange halfs, are making me think about alternatives for the birds, must try them out, see what comes......now that we finally have good weather.

Mark

Thanks Mark. I will be going back to this spot again today, with a jar of grape jelly and an orange. I have seen these birds at the same place twice now, so I know they are in the area. I'll let you know how it works out.

amazing mitch lucky is not a ward i m thinking of . the only lucky chance ive got to one is a golden oriole a summer visitor to the uk. but onlyt to a small part.

Well Mitch I got me some sticks for the birds in my garden, weather permiting I should be back on monday with some photos.....hopefully! They are about 7 - 8 feet tall, and I have taken off the branches at the bottom so no cats can get at them. How do you keep them upright?

Mark

Thanks Jason. I think luck has something to do with it since these guys seem to have a rather large territory where it would be impossible to follow them around. It was lucky I stumbled onto the tarritory of a pair of them, and now I can just sit at the one spot I have seen them at twice and hope I'm there when they make the rounds.

Mark, one stick, I just jammed into the ground so that one or two of the little branches are over the seeds I have put on the ground and a couple of old log pieces I have laid out. I have a section of a tree crotch we chainsawed small enough to fit in a woodstove, and it has a rotten center. So the one end sits on the ground while the fork in the tree part is up, with both forks having rotten center holes. I have stuck two branches into these holes, so they form a big Y shape, one of them being like 9 feet tall at the tip. It's pretty stable. On the tall one, I have a finch feeder tube hanging and the other stick is short and goes over a small yard table I have another feeder sitting on.

I've had branches up since about October and they always get visitors. I guess the natural instinct of the bird makes it land on the perch and look around to make sure it's safe before actually getting at the seeds. Seems to work out pretty well and I try and shoot when they are on the perches.