The Bullock's Oriole

A Summer Visitor to Walker Lake 

Summer is beginning to wind down and as the days get shorter, I’m seeing less of the brightly colored birds that have taken up residence in my backyard. Of all the birds that summer in my area, I enjoy the Bullock’s Orioles the most, watching them scurry around the plants searching for insects, fruit and nectar.

Orioles, like hummingbirds will drink from feeders with sugar water and I have several oriole feeders placed around the yard. The oriole feeders are usually orange, with bigger holes, ¼ inch diameter, and come with larger perches.  A hummingbird feeder can be adapted for orioles by enlarging the holes.

Around the middle of April, the Bullock’s orioles begin to show up from their summer migration. The mature males are easy to spot with their bright orange plumage accented against black, with the white wing patches.

The females and first year-males are more difficult to identify because they have similar colors; gray-brown on the upper areas, with dull yellow on the underparts. The only noticeable difference on the male is the eye-lines and black on the throat.

Over the years from bird watching in my yard, I began to notice a pattern where the orioles were in the yard at dusk, but gone the following morning. I did some inquiring on the Internet and found to my surprise that orioles and songbirds migrate at night. Studies have found that when birds are in the nest, they spend a large portion of their time at night looking out at the stars. It is believed that by watching the stars in the nest, birds develop the ability to recognize star patterns and their movement in the night sky. Furthermore, it is theorized that birds use the North Star for navigation. During spring migration, orioles and other type birds fly to the north, or to the North Star, and in fall they fly away from it, heading south to Mexico. On cloudy or foggy nights, it is believed that birds fly above the clouds and can actually detect the earth’s magnetism through a built-in compass.

With summer drawing to a close, my yard has become quiet and still and I feel sadness as I miss the flurry of activity from my summer visitors. I bid them safe travels on their journey south and will look forward to their return next spring.

For more information, please visit the following links:

Songbird Migration:

http://www.sewanee.edu/biology/courses/Bio201/Songbird.html

Migratory Bird Center
Smithsonian National Zoological Park:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/fact_sheets/default.cfm?fxsht=9

The Bullock's Oriole:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullock's_Oriole

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

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