We get whopper orioles! They are the most furtive of birds and they make a "chuck chuck" ugly noise I learned to recognize and when I hear it I dash to the window to see if I can spot one, it's tough because they won't even let me look at them through the blinds. We use the glass 27 oz feeders and the orioles hang upside down with their feet around the plasticized wire the feeder hangs from to use the feeder. They must be able to get something like this because they keep coming back. They are really gorgeous and huge.

There are usually a few berries and seed pods left here and there and in a pinch, they'll eat buds on trees and scavenge whatever is available. In many cases, the nutritional values are so low that they have to eat constantly to keep their caloric content high enough to generate enough internal warmth to keep from freezing. In other cases, some birds spend quite a bit of time storing acorns and other seeds like pine nuts in tree cavities for winter use. It helps to remember that birds are very mobile and unlike humans who tend to see only what is immediately around us, they will expand their normal territories until some type of food is found. Steve

I've read literature from birding sources attributing feeding for helping to build up certain bird species at risk for extirpation. We have acreage and we love birds, so have spent decades and dinero to provide natural nesting environments and natural food sources, and we also do not use chemicals. That doesn't stop us from feeding in winter, but start cutting back as natural foods become available. But that being said I agree with lazygardens.........the best thing you can do is to try to support protection of their environments on as large a scale as possible.

Yup..a male Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker