Hummingbirds, Orioles and Rose breasted Grosbeaks

BillieJR · Wed May 02, 2018 10:22 am

I know this is for purple martins but thought some of you may be interested to know that these 2 birds are in southern Wisconsin now, too. Time to get those feeders out.

TheSmiths · Thu May 03, 2018 2:36 am

It's amazing how quickly the winds can carry them north once the weather clears.

The blue grosbeaks arrived in our area about 10 days ago but I didn't see the first rose-breasted until yesterday.

Have you seen any female orioles? We have a large number of males, both adult and subadult, but no females.

-=DKC=- · Thu May 03, 2018 8:18 am

I had a male Northern Oriole looking into one of my Martin gourds this week. I assume he was just curious but I wonder if an oriole would eat a Martin egg if he could get to one.

rcwisk · Thu May 03, 2018 8:55 am

Hello Bille,

I am your martin neighbor over in West Bend, WI. Appreciate the update on the hummingbirds and orioles migration. Hope you have a good year with your martins. I am currently at 25+ pairs.

BillieJR · Thu May 03, 2018 9:49 am

The Smiths - I've never seen blue grosbeaks - I'll have to look them up to see what they look like. I didn't even know they existed. I have a hard time remembering that there are different species of birds for different areas of the country. Not everyone has what we have in our area either. Yes - we did have at least one female oriole yesterday. The orioles we have are Baltimore - I know there's another variety that we have had, at least in the spring, I think they are Orchard?.....but we haven't seen any of them yet. Last year is the first year we've ever seen the Orchard Orioles at our place and it was only in the spring. Then they disappeared. Our neighbor across the road said he had an Indigo Bunting yesterday. I haven't seen one of those this year yet, either.

rcwisk - Thanks for the good luck wishes - you sound like you're having a very successful year. It's always good news to hear about purple martins in Wisconsin. Did you have to feed them like some of the landlords did a couple weeks or so ago or didn't they show up until after the bad cold weather and snow?

rcwisk · Thu May 03, 2018 11:31 am

Yes I did a lot of supplemental feeding with crickets as my first martins showed up on April 7th. I was concerned that I would lose some birds but to my knowledge everyone survived though all the sleet, snow and wind.

Dave Reynolds · Thu May 03, 2018 3:13 pm

BillieJR... We too have Hummingbirds, Orioles and Grosbeaks.. The Oriole came by yesterday and was drinking out of the Hummingbird’s feeder.. Put grape jelly out for the Orioles and they hit hard...

Dave

TheSmiths · Thu May 03, 2018 5:57 pm

BillieJR wrote:I have a hard time remembering that there are different species of birds for different areas of the country.

I'm the same way.

BillieJR wrote:Our neighbor across the road said he had an Indigo Bunting yesterday. I haven't seen one of those this year yet, either.

The indigos arrived pretty early this year.
We normally put out black oil sunflower, safflower, and crushed peanuts in a small hopper. I accidentally purchased NutraSaff (aka golden safflower) last Fall and was at first disappointed that it seemed not as well accepted. Gradually, however, the birds warmed up to it. The hull is very soft allowing American goldfinches and indigo buntings to crack and eat it so I am now a fan.

-=DKC=- wrote:I had a male Northern Oriole looking into one of my Martin gourds this week. I assume he was just curious but I wonder if an oriole would eat a Martin egg if he could get to one.

I wouldn't think so but I've learned to never say never. There's always that one bird that behaves out-of-character. I think you are right about him being curious. He might have been looking for insects too. I watched a northern parula repeatedly enter and exit an nest box this Spring while hunting. (There was an abandoned chickadee nest in it at the time).

-=DKC=- · Thu May 03, 2018 7:05 pm

TheSmiths wrote:I wouldn't think so but I've learned to never say never. There's always that one bird that behaves out-of-character. I think you are right about him being curious. He might have been looking for insects too. I watched a northern parula repeatedly enter and exit an nest box this Spring while hunting. (There was an abandoned chickadee nest in it at the time).

A Parula. That is very interesting. I never would have guessed.

Last week I had 2 Kiskadee flycatchers go systematically around my gourd rack looking into every gourd. When they got a little over halfway through the rotation I chased them off. I love them but I don't trust them.

Also my resident Buff-bellied Hummingbirds are pretty interested in the colony. When the Martins are all together making a ruckus I often see the Buff-bellied hovering in front of the colony just checking everything out.

TheSmiths · Sat May 05, 2018 1:59 am

Dave Reynolds wrote:Put grape jelly out for the Orioles and they hit hard...

You and me both! They emptied them twice yesterday. Apparently I didn't refill them fast enough so a couple of adult males started working on the suet.

The females finally arrived today.

-=DKC=- wrote:Last week I had 2 Kiskadee flycatchers go systematically around my gourd rack looking into every gourd. When they got a little over halfway through the rotation I chased them off. I love them but I don't trust them.

I had to look up Kiskadees. They sound like fun characters but I wouldn't trust them either!

-=DKC=- wrote:Also my resident Buff-bellied Hummingbirds are pretty interested in the colony. When the Martins are all together making a ruckus I often see the Buff-bellied hovering in front of the colony just checking everything out.

Funny!

One of the male Ruby-Throats has decided the perches atop the 21' gourd rack pole provides him with the best vantage point to guard "his" feeders.