Ah, one of my favorite birds, can't wait till they show up again! They like sweet stuff. Nectar (I use the same recipe as for hummers, but the feeder is a little different - bigger holes). They love grapes and oranges.

This is a Baltimore on the right and an Orchard Oriole on the left. This is actually a hummingbird feeder.

This is the oriole feeder and a male Orchard Oriole.

Oops, sorry, the second picture they are both Orchard - adult male on right, juvenile on left. sorry bout that - I wrote without looking at the picture.

i get the bullocks orioles here but they won't show up for another month. I drilled out the holes bigger on my hummingbird feeders cause they were always trying to drink from them. one has a ring aroud the base they can perch on
and the other i glued plastic strips to the base so they could perch.. the oriole feeder has perches on it similar to the tube feeders. I also hung a 2x6 by nylon strings with a large lid on it and would put grapes or cherries or pieces of watermelon or apricots in the tray and poured in some fresh orange juice when it was on sale. i had three different pairs here last spring and about a dozen fledged and came to eat often till fall when they go south

I didn't have much luck with the nectar or grapes, but they loved grape jelly. Can't wait til they come back this spring as I got a new oriole feeder for them. It has 2 plastic cups for jelly, and pegs for orange slices. It's also covered to keep out the rain. The catbirds also love grape jelly.

I live in the Northern part of middle Tennessee. Do these birds come to my area?

the baltimore and orchard orioles summer range is throughout most of central and eastern united states the bullocks orioles from central to western usa. they almost all migrate south in fall except areas that are warm most of the year. To Mexico and south america and some of the tropical islands. they usually show up in early spring and stay till early fall. birders say they come back to the general area that they were born

I get them here sometimes but they never stay very long. I put out grape jelly for them which they love. They also eat at the hummingbird feeder.

Nice photos!

rebeccah - yes, you should be able to get both types of oriole above - Baltimore and Orchard.

dianne - thank you!

As for grape jelly - I know a LOT of people use it and attract both orioles and catbirds. I have found that both orioles and catbirds love the nectar and fruit just as much as grape jelly, so that is what I feed them. I find the grape jelly to be a bit messy to deal with, while the others are not, so...as you can see, the orioles love the fruit.

Gray catbird

I live in Colorado and we sometimes get the Bullock's Oriole. I was wondering if the grape jelly and the orange slices don't draw lots of bees? I have always hesitated to put that stuff out because of the wasps/hornets, etc.

Bonnie

i seldom have problems with the bees or wasps but do get ants trying to get to the fruit or even crawling into the nector feeders and the hummingbird feeders I empty the necter out every few days wash the feeders and strain it and reuse it with a mix of fresh. I go thru a feeder twice a day when the young all are learning to eat. I live in southwest colorado near Durango.

great pictures we in canada don't see many of these birds

Wonderful photos!!

dklucious, have you ever seen the "cup" that can go above the nectar feeder? You can fill it with water and it will keep the ants out of your nectar. It looks like a cap for a can of spray paint and it has a hook on it so it can go between the hook for the hanger and the feeder.

yes i use a cup but the big black ants can swim and some make it to the edge and go on down or up it does stop most of the ants though except i have some flying ants that swarm in the spring. and i hate to spray because of the birds or bees

I've never had them use my Oriole feeder, so I don't bother with it any more. I take orange halves and dig a bit out of the middle and put grape jelly in it. The Orioles and the Catbirds love it, and find it quite easily. The ants also find it, so each time I put out a new one, I move it to a different spot in the tree. You can also plant trees that have nectar producing flowers. Every spring my ornamental pear tree attracts the Orioles, and many other birds. Honey bees love it too, but I haven't had a problem with wasps or hornets.

Prairie love,

In your second picture the other Oriole is not a Baltimore. The one on the right is the full grown male Orchard Oriole and the one on the left is a First Year male Orchard Oriole. This bird was born the year before. It takes them two years to acquire the full brick red and black plumage of an adult male Orchard Oriole. You can tell the first year male Orchard by the black under his beak on an all yellow green body. It is the same in male Purple Martins. It takes them two years to get the full blue\black colors of an adult male..Mike

Yes, I know. If you had read my next post, I said I made a mistake. I posted without looking carefully at the photo.

Rebecca,
I'm in east TN & get both Orchard & Baltimores. The Balt has a very pretty, distinctive whistle/song. That's when I know to look for them. They nest in the same oak trees every year but I never can spot the nest until the leaves are gone. The Orchards nest in the cedars & are easier to spot. I put out oranges, apples, grapes but seldom see orioles on any. I do see them on the crabapple & apple blossoms. Hummers use the Oriole feeder.

Prairielove,
Your pics are fantastic!
Susan

Hi all,

Just wanted to add that we had a catbird last summer who practically became our mascot. He was here every day, would let me walk right past him and didn't move, we made eye contact and he just watched me walk by. So funny! He spent his time on a fruit and jelly feeder I got, with a roof over it and a cup that drops in the floor of the feeder and a spike for fruit on either side, which I used for orange slices. It is a great feeder, well worth the money.

I put an oriole feeder out last summer and only hummingbirds visited it. I only put nectar in it, no fruit, so thanks to reading all your posts I will know to put fruit on that this summer too.