I am having the same problem with the seed not dropping down. As I live in the NW I asssumed that the seed was becoming wet. i have a dome over the feeder and it still gets stuck. i become frustrated as well at continually having to move the seed down manually. I have noticed that is the seed that is next to the wall of the feeder is what becomes stuck. It is suggested that the plastic wall has becomes rough and is not allowing passage of the seed to move. I have tried scrubbing the feeder and the equipment with soapy water and bleach with a thourough washing afterward to no avIl! Mary Keith

Thanks for the help. Can't tell for sure if that's what it is, but it could be from the pictures I saw. I took some pictures again today and maybe I can see the top of the head this time to see if there's any orange. He's fun to watch anyway. The only thing this one has that I haven't found in any pictures is like a necklace of black around his neck.

Cookie, is is a Gray Catbird. They are such cool little birds! I bet they would like you more if you gave them some of the food they like. They LOVE suet..especially peanutbutter suet dough, jelly and oranges. Normally each year we have them coming up to our feeders on our deck but not this year. I miss them! Donna

Like all orioles, they are very loud :-) The first time I ever saw one, I was living in N. Indiana. We had a very long one story ranch style house in the country on 5 acres, and tons of wildlife. I had cedar bushes in front of my master bedroom windows, and the bedroom was situated at the furthest most northern corner of the house. I had hung up a humming bird feeder there, so I could watch the Ruby Throated Hummingbird, which I had never seen before (having been born and raised in S. California). I was in the kitchen one morning, and had all the windows open in the house. The kitchen was at the exact opposite end of our house. All of a sudden, I could hear a bird singing it's heart out, VERY loudly. I had a thought that maybe a bird had actually gotten into the house it was so loud. I started following the sound, and ended up walking the entire length of our house to the master bedroom, and there was a gorgeous Baltimore Oriole sitting on the hummingbird feeder, singing his big ole heart out. Our Hooded Orioles here in S. California also have a beautiful song, but mostly, they make this territorial sound, or a lot of chattering. They love the oriole and hummingbird feeders I put out, as well as our Giant Bird of Paradise white flowers. So, we have tons of them in our yards due to perfect nesting areas and great eats! Sadly though today, I found a juvenile Black Headed Grossbeak dead under my kitchen window. I wasn't sure what it was at first, since the juveniles do not sport totally black heads. But, I had an adult male at my suet cake this morning, and I remembered that yesterday a bird hit our upstairs laundry room window extremely hard (as in unlikely to survive hard). I couldn't find any sign of a dead bird yesterday, but found the little guy this morning. I don't see the Grossbeaks that often at my feeders, and thought they were more migrating through, but guess I must have had a nest in my yard. So sad to lose one of the babies. Patty S.