i have had 4 male bullocks orioles show up in last week no females yet but it is that way here with the females about a week or two after the males. They all head for the feeders and jelly and orange halves or orange juice. and in another week the females are nesting and then they take turns coming to the feeders with the males trying to chase the other males away. They get away with lots of jelly but the main problem is they empty the necter feeders every day
and sugar is getting expensive. i have 4 necter feeders up now but after the young fledge i have 6 out and fill them at least twice a day.

You've created a monster!

Nina, I love your story!!! We moved from MN to Texas and how I miss these guys. They would eat me out of house and home for a while and then leave to build nests by a river near by. Usery. lol. Thanks for sharing.

Nina, how wonderful! Do you really think the bird is waking you up? How clever of him!

Regarding your raccoon problem, my feeders are pole-mounted and baffled with a stove-pipe style baffle that keeps raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, etc. off the feeders. You have to get the extra long ones for raccoons and if it's installed properly it works very well. Your jelly would last through the night that way!

That is great you have so many Orioles. In Mass where I live, Mass Audubon has started an Oriole project because they've detected local population declines. Last year I had a Baltimore Oriole nest in the Oak tree right above the deck, so I reported it to the Oriole Project.

i do have my bluebird nest boxes all baffled with stove pipe but the feeder poles for the seed and jelly feeders are not. i really should get to work on that!

oh, there is no doubt in my mind that he is intentionally waking me up! he is quite persistent and stops pecking just as soon as i take jelly out to him. sometimes, if i don't get out there in time to suit him, he will go to the other side of the house and peck on the window that is next to my big chair. sometimes, i feel like i am being **gasp** stalked! LOL

I had one fly thru my property last year, does that count for something? Today, all day, a Red-winged blackbird has been at my feeder. And as I read about the abundance of White-crowned sparrows -- today I saw them flying and chasing each other all thru my woods and -- everywhere on all shrubs. I 'think' they like it here.

Whuww! What a day!!

Dax

well dax, i will just say we started out with lots of fly-bys and after 3 years, the temptation was just too much for the orioles and they started getting more bold. now, i have this monster that elly refers to. LOL! mind you, i'm not complaining. having recently undergone back surgery, i am forced to do a LOT of sitting around while i heal. i can't think of another bird i would rather have pestering me. :)

we have tons of white crowned sparrows here, too. my late husband used to call them "yuppy" birds because they look like they are wearing little tiny bicycle helmets. :D

He's got that right. Why anyone wears a helmet while riding a bike, anymore, is beyond me.

Glad to know you're a Republican. Get well & enjoy your beauties and that one little bad fella who if there were Harleys for birds, he wouldn't be wearing any helmet.

Dax

That is so funny nina!!! You know they always say to be careful what you wish for. As a person who has never laid her eyes upon ANY Oriole, I am green with envy! I would gladly take your flock, including your pesky pecker, just to get to see them!!! I do sympathize with you. My sister currently has a female Bluebird who is not going to be convinced to stop that window pecking NO MATTER what they do to deter her. Believe me, they are trying. She's at it all day long. Poor thing needs some psychotropic medication (or else my sister will need some)!!~~Angie

i've had several visitors out here during my recovery from surgery and we have been sitting out on the deck, not far from where the jelly feeders are. i find this SO interesting...if i sit out there alone, the orioles don't hesitate for a second to fly in and enjoy a jelly snack. however, if another person is sitting out there with me, they will sit up in the trees a distance away and chatter. i wonder...do you suppose they actually recognize a "stranger" and are hesitant to come close? as soon as we walk back into the house, they all swoop in.

i believe that mine do know me. I can stand at the kitchen window and they will be eating and fighting and playing but if anybody else walks up to the window they take aff right away. If i go out in the yard to fill the feeder or water my plants they move up into the tree but stay around. but if anybody else goes out into the yard they leave the yard. if i take too long filling the feeders i can hear them scolding me, a rapid fire chit chit chit chit.

Yes nina, I do truly believe that they do know you and don't perceive you to be a threat. A new and unfamiliar person would be threatening. I never get dive bombed in my yard by my nesting Mockers, Bluebirds, or Tree Swallows, and I fully believe that it is only because I spend so much time in the yard with them. They know me, and they aren't worried about me. I am like part of the landscape to them. :o) Angie

i'm glad to see i'm not the only one whose wild birds get so tame. heck, even my 3 great danes are "part of the landscape". the birds don't hesitate to come to the feeders even if my dogs are wandering around within feet of them. :)