How to Attract Orioles
Orioles have been such constant visitors to hummingbird feeders that there are now commercially produced oriole feeders. These are like large-capacity hummingbird feeders with orange- instead of red-colored parts. There is even orange-flavored instant nectar now available.
You can attract orioles by placing the feeders near the trees and vegetation that the birds frequent. Once the orioles are used to them, the feeders can be moved closer to your house so that you have a better view of the birds. Orioles will accept a more diluted sugar-water concentration than hummingbirds — a 1 to 6 ratio of sugar to water. Prepare the solution and clean feeders as you would for hummingbirds.
Orioles are exciting birds, with their flame-colored plumage, melodic whistles, and incredible nests. These attributes have given rise to some of their common names, such as firebird, hang-nest, and golden oriole. There are eight species of orioles found in the United States, and on the following pages we provide quick guides to their habits and identification.
Some oriole feeders made by (from left to right): Perky-Pet Products, Briggs Associates, Inc., Opus.
What Do Orioles Eat?
In the wild, orioles eat nectar and many kinds of insects. One account says that orioles will spend much time probing into the blossoms of agaves, aloes, hibiscus, lilies, and other tubular flowers to sip the nectar. Sometimes they perch on the stem and puncture the base of the blossom to get at the nectar.
Besides nectar, orioles eat blackberries, mulberries, elderberries, serviceberries, many other kinds of fruits, and a large variety of caterpillars and insects, including many that are injurious to crops. At bird-feeding stations they eat orange halves, suet, peanut-butter mixtures, grapes, watermelon pulp or rind, and other fruits.
Courtship
Arriving on their northern breeding grounds when spring is well under way, orioles engage in only a brief courtship. Male orioles usually arrive ahead of females and stake out territories, which may be quite close to those of other orioles, sometimes so close that they are nesting colonially. When the females arrive, the males court them with their melodic whistled songs and bowing displays. Females of most species of orioles also sing. Listen for the pair's keeping in contact with their whistled notes as they hop about the trees, looking for food and building their nest
The Hammock Bird
Orioles have some of the most beautiful and fascinating nests among all birds. The nests are intricately woven affairs, made of plantfibers, usually built in trees and suspended from the tips of branches. In warmer regions, orioles build their nests in Spanish moss, or palm trees. Some are longer and more pendulous than others, ranging from the Altamira oriole's nest, which can be 25 inches long to the 4-inch-long hooded oriole's nest.
Even though the nest looks like the work of a master weaver, there is no organized design in its weaving. First, foundation fibers are attached to supporting twigs to form pendant loops. More and more fibers are added, with random pokes and pulls until the nest is completed. One ornithologist found that an orchard oriole had taken a 13-inch length of grass and hooked it in and out 34 times, while winding it round the nest. Often an inner lining of soft material is also added.
Orioles will frequently accept human-made nesting material laid out for them during their breeding season. Cut pieces of string or twine, of neutral color, in 4- to 8-inch lengths, and drape them in shrubs or tree branches, or other places where the birds can see them.
Other Visitors
More than 58 species of birds have been reported seen at hummingbird feeders. These include swifts, woodpeckers, jays, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, wrens, mockingbirds, thrashers, robins, warblers, grackles, tan-agers, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, finches, sparrows, and others.
All sorts of other creatures have been reported coming to hummingbird feeders as well, ranging from bats to lizards, ringtails, raccoons, foxes, chipmunks, squirrels, and opossums.
Depending on your point of view, you can welcome the other wildlife or discourage it. To protect your feeders from night-active mammals, you can take feeders in at night or hang them in places inaccessible to mammals. If other species of birds compete too much with hummingbirds for the feeders, add more feeders, or use wide-mouthed jars filled with sugar solution to lure the larger birds away from the hummer feeders.
A northern oriole, subspecies “Bullock's oriole,” in a cottonwood.
Quick Guide
Northern Oriole (formerly Baltimore and Bullock's Orioles)Icterus galbula
Breeding Period: April to June
Nest: 3.5–8 inches long, placed 6–60 ft. above ground at branch tips. Made of plant fibers, hair, grape bark, grass, Spanish moss Eggs: 4–6, bluish white or grayish with brown markings. 1 brood
Incubation: 12–14 days, by female
Nestling phase: 12–14 days
Range: All U.S. and southern Canada
Identification: 8.75 inches long. Male orange below, black head. Bullock's male has white wing patch, orange on cheek. Female paler, no black on head. Female Bullock's has whitish belly
Quick Guide
Orchard Oriole
Icterus spurius
Breeding Period: April to July
Nest: 2.5–3.5 inches long, placed 6–60 ft. above ground in orchard trees, mesquite, button-bush. Made of long grasses, suspended from forked end of branch
Eggs: 3–5, bluish white with brown markings. 1 brood
Incubation: 12 days, by female (and possibly male)
Nestling phase: 11–14 days. Has nested in loose colonies. Also nests singly, often close to eastern kingbird
Range: Central and eastern U.S. and Canada
Identification: 7.25 inches long. Male has deep red-brown breast and rump. Female is yellowish green with white wing bars
Quick Guide
Hooded Oriole
Icterus cucullatus
Breeding Period: April to August
Nest: 3-inch-long woven cup placed 5–30 ft. above ground in deciduous trees, Spanish moss. In palm trees, sewn to underside of palm leaf. Made of grass, palm fibers, Spanish moss
Eggs: 3–5, pale with splotches. 2–3 broods
Incubation: 12–14 days, by female
Nestling phase: 14 days
Range: California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
Identification: 8 inches long. Male has orange crown, black on throat. Females are yellowish, with no black throat. Birds vary in color intensity across their range. Texas birds are brightest, California birds most pale
Quick Guide
Scott's Oriole
Icterus parisorum
Breeding Period: May to June
Nest: 5 inches long, placed 4–18 ft. up in yuccas, pines, vines on cacti, sycamores, etc. Made of fibers of yucca, grasses. Sewn to edges of down-hanging yucca leaves
Eggs: 2–4, pale blue with blotches of black, brown, or gray. 2 broods
Incubation: 12–14 days by female
Nestling phase: 14 days
Range: California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
Identification: 9 inches long. Male is lemon yellow with black hood. Female is yellowish olive, with some black on throat and with wing bars
Quick Guide
Altamira Oriole
Icterus gularis
Breeding Period: April to July
Nest: 25 inches long, placed 30–80 ft. above ground in exposed position suspended from branch tips in dead tree. Made of air plant rootlets, palmetto leaf fibers
Eggs: 3–4, bluish white with brown or purple markings. 2 broods Incubation: Unknown
Nestling phase: Unknown
Range: Rare resident, south Texas
Identification: 10 inches long. Larger than hooded oriole, and bill is thicker at base. Upper wing bar orange or yellow, forming a shoulder patch. Sexes alike
Quick Guide
Audubon's Oriole
Icterus graduacauda
Breeding Period: April to July
Nest: 3–4 inches long, placed 6–14 ft. above ground in mesquite trees, thickets. Attached to ends of upright branches. Made of dried grasses, green, wiry grass
Eggs: 3–5, pale bluish or grayish with brown markings. 2 broods Incubation: Unknown
Nestling phase: Unknown
Range: Uncommon resident in south Texas
Identification: 9.5 inches long. Male has black hood, greenish yellow back. Female similar but slightly paler
Quick Guide
Streak-Backed Oriole
Icterus pustulatus
Range: Mexican species. Rare fall and winter visitor to southeastern Arizona, southern California. Has not yet nested in United States
Identification: 8.25 inches long. One of the most brilliantly colored orioles seen in the United States. Male has streaked upper back, deep orange head, black throat. Female has black throat but is yellowish, with gray or olive streaked back
Quick Guide
Spot-Breasted Oriole
Icterus pectoralis
Breeding Period: April to July
Nest: Woven pouch 6 or more inches long, attached near end of branch in tree. Made of plant fibers
Eggs: 3–5, pale blue marked with dark colors. 2 broods Incubation: Unknown
Nestling phase: Unknown
Range: Introduced Mexican species now resident in southern Florida
Identification: 9.25 inches long. Adults have orange shoulder patch, black throats with dark spots on upper breast. Female similar to but slightly paler than male. Travels and roosts in flocks in winter