June 5, 2022 - Baltimore Orioles

Today, class, we’re going to study Baltimore Orioles. (Oops, I slipped back into my "teacher mode".) Because Orioles have such variable plumage, they provide a unique opportunity for identifying individual birds. Adult males, like this one, are no help because they mostly all look alike. However, I have seen two adult males at our feeder at once, so I know we have at least two of them.

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It's the females and immature males that have such distinctive looks. I’m not even going to guess whether the rest of these photos show females or males. If one of you birders have some clues for telling them apart, I’d really like to hear from you. This bird is the palest of the Orioles coming to our feeders. It has a pale orange face, throat, and undertail feathers with a white area on its flanks. There is only a little bit of dark spotting on its head. Let’s call this Oriole A.

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This bird is completely orange on the underside of its body. It has some dark spotting on its head and a dark spot on its throat. This will be Oriole B.

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Oriole C is orange underneath and has even a little more black spotting on its head. We can tell it’s a different bird, however, because it doesn’t have the black spot on its throat.

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This bird was seen out along our driveway, not at the feeders. It has orange and white underneath and some dark spotting on its head so it could be Oriole A. The head looks darker than Oriole A, so I’m going to call this one Oriole D. Also note that it is not eating jelly, but it’s exploring the emerging leaves from this tree. Perhaps it is eating pollen, or maybe it’s finding an insect among the leaves.

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Oriole E has a rich orange chest and belly. It also has a different pattern of black on its head and a more extensive black spot on its throat.

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This bird stands out from the rest because of the orange feathers in its wing bar. This will be Oriole F. That means we have at least two males and six females/immature males.

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Here are a few other Oriole photos that I took. The males are dominant at the feeder. They will not let the others eat until they are finished.

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I caught this bird in mid-air as it jumped from one branch to another. Any guess as to which individual this is?

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This looks like Oriole B with a piece of grass that will be used in making its nest. The online resource “Birds of the World” says that the female is generally the sole nest builder. So, we could assume this is a female. However, we know that in nature, there are always exceptions.

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I mounted a Juneberry branch near the feeder, and this male Oriole perched in a great spot for a nice photo.

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