Baltimore Orioles can often be heard singing from the tops of trees. Click here to listen to the song of the oriole. The breast, belly, shoulder patch and rump of an adult male oriole are orange and the rest of its body and head is black, except for the white wing bars. An adult female oriole is yellow-brown on the upper parts with darker wings (and white wing bars), and dull orange on the breast and belly. First-year males do not have the brilliant orange colour of the adult; they are still brownish on the head and wings, which sometimes makes it difficult to tell a young male from an older female.
Males arrive on the breeding grounds before the females do. In the Montreal area, we can expect to start seeing and hearing orioles in the first week of May (Bannon, Pierre; Tableau des dates d’arrivée printanière au Québec 1992-2008). A male establishes his territory, often in last year’s breeding location. Courtship behaviour begins as soon as the females arrive on the breeding grounds. Males chase the females and perform bowing and jumping behaviours; females may respond with wing drooping and chatter calling (Stokes, Donald and Stokes, Lillian, A Guide to Bird Behaviour Volume II, 1983).
The female builds the nest, which is a tightly woven, long pouch. It usually hangs from the underside of a branch. The female lays four to six pale grayish-white eggs, which are streaked and blotched with dark lines. The female incubates the eggs for 12 to 14 days; the nestling phase lasts 12 to 14 days.
Orioles eat berries, nectar and insects. If you have lots of mature deciduous trees in your backyard, you might be able to entice orioles to visit by putting cut oranges on a branch or platform, or by having an oriole feeder (filled with orange-coloured sugar water). Click here to see a video of an oriole feeder.
