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| I hung my oriole feeder and waited for the orioles to show up. |
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| And very soon a bird did show up. Wow, that is one funny looking oriole! Wait, that isn't an oriole! No, it is the boss of the backyard, the Northern Mockingbird. |
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| After a while, an Baltimore Oriole did actually come to investigate. This is a first year male who hasn't yet morphed into the gaudy orange and black feathers of the adult males. |
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| It didn't take him long to get around to checking out the feeder. |
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| This is a second sub-adult male enjoying one of the orange halves. So far, I've seen four or five orioles around the feeders and they have all been sub-adult males. I've concluded that most likely the mature adults have already passed through, maybe even before I got my feeder hung. Perhaps they were early this year, like everything else. |
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| The orioles are no match for this bossy mockingbird who has chased at least a couple of birds away from the feeder. He doesn't seem too interested in the orange halves but he does love that grape jelly! |
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| And who knew that mockingbirds liked jelly? |
Now you know that mockingbirds like jelly. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was quite surprised, although I don't know why. Mockingbirds certainly love the things that jelly is made of like berries and grapes.
DeleteI would never have thought that mockingbirds liked jelly. I saw an oriole in my yard last week and managed to get a blurry photo of it. Not sure if it was male/female/adult/immature though. I don't know much about them.
ReplyDeleteLove your feeder - wondering if I should get one too.
I got my feeder from Duncraft and it does work well for the two foods that seem to attract the orioles - the grape jelly and orange halves. It's probably too late to put up a feeder to attract them now. They've pretty much all passed through. They are normally here in early May, but I think they arrived a little earlier this year. I actually got my feeder up a bit late. They'll be back through in the fall, of course, but I almost never see one in my yard then.
DeleteA great bird story. I was riveted. Still haven't seen any orioles here but we did talk about yours at one of my reading groups this week because another member grew up in NJ, as I did, and has fond memories of the birds and their amazing nests. Wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to their passage each spring. I don't always get them in my yard and there were only a few this year, but they are always such a treat to have around.
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