Bill, I'm up near Boyne Falls and we have lots of Orioles here. I put up a nectar feeder for them in the early part of the year and see them at it constantly - as well as at one of the hummingbird feeders. Ususally when the leaves drop I can spot the remains of a hanging nest or two in the maples around our house. I can't believe they'd be up here and not in your TC area.

I've looked at that particular jelly/orange half feeder myself, but I really don't want to encourage yellow jackets or wasps...we have enough problems with those. I'd love to hear from someone who has used one!

Ron and Anne:

Thanks for your responses. I still have not decided upon which fruit feeder to purchase/use, but would like to attrack the Orioles to the garden and so I might purchase the hanging fruit feeder by Droll Yankees, just to see how they respond. Or I might hang an Oriole (liquid) feeder and see what happens as well.

Anne: I took a look at "your page" and saw that you grow a lot of roses. Perhaps, Sue and I can come up for a short visit sometime early this summer when they are in bloom. Our garden project is just beginning to emerge from a weed patch into something recognizable. ;>)

By the way, years ago when I was living in central Illinois - Peoria specifically, where I grew "Hawkeye Belle" among other roses - I and another fellow rose gardener from Iowa traveled to Iowa State University in Ames and briefly met with Dr. Buck at his demonstration gardens.

While we were chatting, Dr. Buck told us a short story of some "older" ladies disparaging the "fact" that such a lovely rose had a terrible name. The rose in question was, of course, "Hawkeye Belle", but they, according to Dr. Buck, kept on pronouncing it as "Hawkeye Belly". No wonder.

Again, thanks for your responses.

Bill & Sue

Does anyone have any advice about how to keep bees out of my jelly jar Oriole feeder? I came home from work today and the entire jelly jar was packed full of bees. My necter feeders have bee guards on them, but I don't know what to do about the wide opening on the jelly jar. any advice would be great.
Thank you,
kjoz

I live in NW Ohio and had our first Orioles to the yard this year. They were around until about 2 weeks ago and have now disappeared. Are they gone for good (or until next year)? Or, did I do something wrong? I still change the oranges and grape jelly in the feeder.

Thanks in advance,
Kim

Re the "disappearing" orioles: Sometimes a family will move to better feeding grounds after their young have fledged...so you may stop seeing your usual oriole family at the feeder later in the summer. But -- you may also attract other orioles "just passin' through," so I wouldn't take down my feeder. (Orioles are one of the earlier migrators, though, so by the time the leaves are turning I think you can safely stop feeding...although in our experience the hummingbirds, whose migration runs a bit later, will also partake of oriole nectar.)

I live in Beaverton, in the middle of Michigan's High Five;-), and we've had a family of orioles hang out in our yard for several years now. They're a little less obvious in August, but every so often I'll catch a glimpse of one around our feeder. (We had to buy an oriole feeder because they kept raiding our hummingbird feeders and knocking/pulling the bee guards off the feeding stations! They're quite acrobatic, and determined.) We don't have a lot of fruiting trees in our immediate area -- just some juneberries in the woods, our crab apples and whatever other scattered fruit trees might be in our suburban neighborhood -- so I feel lucky to have one family that apparently keeps coming back.