[mou] Orioles (how to get them to stay)

[Jeanie Joppru]

To embellish on the oranges - once the orioles have cleaned out the peel,
leave the membranes in place and fill with the grape jelly. It makes a
perfect dispenser and the birds can't get in and get themselves all over
jelly. After the peel is no longer useful replace with a new one.
 

Jeanie Joppru 
Pennington County, MN 
  

 


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From: mou-net-bounces at moumn.org [mailto:mou-net-bounces at moumn.org] On Behalf
Of Cathy Gagliardi
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 12:01 AM
To: Sara Rene' Martin; mou-net at moumn.org
Subject: Re: [mou] Orioles (how to get them to stay)


Hi Sara,
  You've got some of the right ingredients for Orioles...and it couldn't get
any cooler right now.
I've never seen so many Orioles in all my years of catering to them
specifically, as they are my favorite songbird by far.
 
  Orange halves: cut an orange in half (not sliced) and present it "upright"
like a bowl. I pound a finishing nail in my fence post half-way so that I
can push the orange halve into the nail and it stays put. Orioles are
hitting oranges hard right now but that will end soon, once nesting starts
and they go into their insect-mode for high protein.
 
Grape jelly: somehow get a dish of this out there real soon....this is what
will make them want to stay, especially if your surroundings are ripe for
building a nest.
 
Nesting material: in that suet cage that you have your orange slices, take
the slices out and offer them nesting material in this same suet cage.
Cat/Dog hair is an excellent choice and if you have yarn, cut it up into 6
inch strips and put that in the suet cage also. (If your yarn is longer than
6", it can actually strangle an entangled nestling in their purse-like pouch
they build for a nest.)
 
Mealworms: prime food source to offer when Mom needs high-protein for her
egg development and eventually her young will too, once they hatch. You can
put your mealworms right on top of the jelly and they will welcome this
immensely.
 
Nectar: they are hitting this hard right now too so if you have a
Hummingbird feeder that has the portal-flowers that can be removed for a
larger beak (Orioles), pull them out and the 2 species will share this
feeder with no problem at all.
 
 If all of these ingredients are not available for your Orioles, (especially
mealworms) you will see the next month go by thinking they have left.
If they do nest with you, no specie can survive on all these sugar-enriched
ingredients like nectar, oranges and jelly. Offering mealworms will be an
added delight for them, as well as you, and you will still be able to see
them on a regular basis when their high-protein diet kicks in.
 
After the kids have fledged, they will ALL come back to the sweet stuff and
right around Labor Day they will head south again.
4 months with them and then 8 months without them, just doesn't seem fair.
I guess, enjoy them to the fullest while you can.
 
  Best of luck to you,
  Cathy Gagliardi
    St. Paul, MN
   
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sara Rene'  <mailto:srmartin69 at hotmail.com> Martin 
To: mou-net at moumn.org 
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 8:53 PM
Subject: [mou] excellent morning.


If I weren't so new to birding I would have a lot more to report.  What I
was able to correctly identify out my front window put a very wide grin on
my face!

 a pair  of rb grosbeaks (first for me)
yellow warbler  (another first)
black and white warblers  (another)
Yellow rumped warblers
GBH
cardnals
robins
my nesting chipping sparrows
other warblers and it makes me crazy that I don't know which ones!!
what I think was a flycatcher and another beautiful tannish bird I couldn't
identify.

My backyard yield not nearly so great.  Although I think I had a cat bird at
my oriole feeder.  Alas, no orioles ---How do you put jelly out?  I don't
have a feeder for it.  What recommendations do you have?  I have oranges
sliced in a suet cage, an oriole feeder and a hummer feeder with no visitors
- What am I doing wrong?

My husband put screws in my peanut feeder  - it has been knocked down again
but mostly peanuts intact.  Much to the dismay of my 87 squirrels, 2 foxes,
and who knows how many raccoons.  I did have a large downy on it moments
ago.  

What fun!  Is it always this cool?
sara
South Saint Paul





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