[ID: an illustration of a black and orange bird perched on a branch with red maple leaves, facing to the left. It is on a teal background with white flecks. End.]
Baltimore oriole! They feed on ripe, dark fruits like mulberries, cherries, and grapes, as well as nectar and insects. They hang out in much of the central US during the summer, and migrate to Central America for the winter. The Audobon has a really cool interactive migration map about it! I’ve seen an oriole once in person, and it was stunningly vibrant and beautiful.
We've had so much rain and storming that I didn't put the photo cams out in the last couple of days, but the Birdsy cams are all rolling. This was earlier today, Orioles are on the move but I am getting a nice and steady stream. They don't like to share!
"Native to southwestern Mexico and Central America and sometimes kept as a cagebird, this large oriole apparently escaped from captivity in the Miami area in the late 1940s. The suburbs of southern Florida, with their gardens of exotic plants, provided a suitable habitat for some tropical birds, so the Spot-breasted Oriole thrived there. Its numbers have been hurt occasionally by exceptionally cold winters, but it is currently doing well in some areas between Miami and West Palm Beach."
"This big tropical oriole is common in northeastern Mexico, but was not found in our area until 1939. It has since become common year-round in native woods of far southern Texas. It may go unseen at times as it forages in dense trees, but it draws attention with its harsh fussing callnotes. Even before the bird is heard or seen, an observer may notice its oversized nest, a pouch up to two feet long hanging from the end of a branch."