They have become a little less
recently, I think some might have already begun to migrate, but I still have quite a lot of Orioles hanging around. At this point, it is mostly juveniles but I also see the occasional adult male and female strewn in. I was hoping to see the Orchard Oriole’s young ones or females too but time might be running out for that. Anyways, here is a good dose of sunshine to brighten your Friday.
Summer is here,
and we are starting it with another really hot day. Temperatures will reach around 36 °C / 98 °F today. I have watered the garden, filled the bird baths and gave the nestboxes some extra shade. The Wren sadly lost two more eggs to that destructive other Wren yesterday, but she seems to be hanging on. (Update on the Wren - the other Wren came and tossed the last remaining egg earlier and is now working on the nest.) The Bluebirds are looking great. And there are many Orioles stopping by. Here is a little selection. Stay cool and hydrated and happy summer solstice!
Vitamin O to start the week!
We had the the first real thunderstorm and rain pour of the season. The yard’s vegetation has pretty much exploded and the bird songs have calmed down because many are busy building nests. Last week, I saw the first female Oriole (see first photo), and there is a good group of them visiting. It is funny to me how much they can differ in color. On of these is of course the Orchard Oriole, so it is generally darker.
50 Shades of Orange
There was a lot of Oriole traffic yesterday, so much that I decided to prep one of the photo cams with jelly to get some more photos. So here’s your hump day dose of Vitamin O 😁 They are so diverse and pretty, I can hardly choose a favorite. These are males and females, younger as well as adults. Basically the whole Baltimore Oriole range. They will soon move on and I am going to miss them.
Since I was so fascinated
with the intense Oriole the other day, I have tried to see if I can capture some photos of it too. Here it is, amongst other (male and female) Baltimore Orioles. It is so interesting to see how much they differ in color. Some of them are adults, others are molting into adult plumage. The photos were taken over the course of two days, so light and shadows vary a bit.
July is full of sunshine,
which can be rare during the winter. The July bird in my calendar is another bird that visits here only for the warm season, the Baltimore Oriole. They love grape jelly and oranges, and I love their songs and the effect seeing them has on my mood (I also call them vitamin O).
You can get an Ostdrossel calendar here at ostdrossel.com or here.