While eating my lunch a bird came to the

[Mr. Sandman]

feeder outside the window (it is a very busy feeder) I looked up and ...Ohhh, its a Baltimore oriole. So I cut a couple of oranges and placed them on the old bird feeder hanger out back and he showed up in minutes. While waiting I saw 3 humming birds! i got this crude shot

[PRBuzz]

Very nice. Great idea about placing the oranges, I might do similar since I've had orioles now for over 5 years. Just started (re)feeding the birds now that we are dogless (somewhat territorial against any/all other animals).

[Rob Rockcrawler]

I had a oriole at the window yesterday. He must have thought his reflection was trying to impede on his turf because he was pissed. He kept smacking the window with his beak, and didnt care that i was a foot away, unfortunately my camera battery was dead.

[MarshCappa]

Very cool. I just put some seed in our feeder this weekend. I'll keep an eye out.

[justplugit]

Nice shot SM. Beautiful bird for sure. We used to have them build in my neighbors Linden tree until it was taken down 3 years ago.

The annual fight is on again between the Chickadee and Carolina Wren for the birdhouse in my maple tree.

Last year the Chickadee won, this year looks like the
wren is the winner.

Was rooting for the Chickadee, a lot quieter.

[JohnnyD]

Gorgeous shot! They are quite a sight.

[Starfish]

Thats awesome! We got a oriole bird feeder for the kids for christmas because they are my oldest favorite bird but all we have seen so far are hummingbirds. They are beautiful but not what we were quite hoping for.

Really nice shot!!

[Mr. Sandman]

We have a number of them hanging around and my wife tells me they have been here for a few weeks already. A bunch of them nested in trees on my property last year. They have a cool hanging nest, like a bag or purse. (put out fruit, oranges and apples if you want to attract them)
Below are a few photos I took last year of the Mother feeding her crew. When she showed up at the nest it was a really noisy, as soon as she left it was dead silence.


My favorite bird song is the red winged black bird, it brings back a lot of childhood memories goofing around near the water.
Humming birds are fun to watch too. Get one of those window humming bird feeders and put it on a window right next to a chair...you can watch them inches from your face

[Chris in Mass]

Nice job. Check that one off. One of my goals is to attract these this year. Should be done with a feeder to hold fruit and grubs by this weekend.

[Swimmer]

We had out first Oriole nest last year and are waiting patiently for the pair to return. The nest looks just like a sock. They had two babies last year and one was pushed to the ground below. I burried it. It was very underdeveloped.

[FishermanTim]

When you've been backyard bird watching like I have, you will soon be able to tell the birds by their calls. I can tell my neices and nephews which bird is in the yard, and they ask me how I know.
My favorites, based on my personal experience are Orioles, redwing blackbirds, Northern flicker, mockingbird, and nightingale.
Sure, they are some "honorable mentions" like starlings, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals and bluejays, but they don't really "sing".

If you know you have a mockingbird in your yard, and it's "singing", have some fun and whistle your favorite song (only a short part of it) and they may choose to include your song in their melody. They are renown for imitating a lot of sounds to increase their song length (to impress their mate). I had one that copied a cat's meow, and flew to the top of a tree to sing. Imagine people looking for a cat at the very top of a 40 foot maple in early spring? I laughed out loud at that one.
(They can imitate lawn mowers, and even car alarms.)

[ProfessorM]

Nice pics thanks for sharing. Have had a few around for a few weeks. Very easy call to identify.

Catbird is probably the meow, if you didn't see it. They are very vocal birds and very common. They never shut up all day long.
I luv the Carolina Wren call the most but they wake me up early way too often.

[Bocephus]

nice pics Ill have to try the fruit thing, Ive seen them in my neighborhood, just not in my yard

[FishermanTim]

I thought the same thing, but I saw the bird that made the sound.

As for the wrens, that's the same reason they didn't make my list.
I believe a backyard without any birds is a waste of a yard.

I had to explain to my parents years ago the benefits of having as many birds as we had in our yard: they eat bugs, PLENTY of them!

[beaver]

I had a oriole at the window yesterday. He must have thought his reflection was trying to impede on his turf because he was pissed. He kept smacking the window with his beak, and didnt care that i was a foot away, unfortunately my camera battery was dead.

This guy was doing the same thing. Wasn't shy when I came up to him and snapped a pic. Birds are strange.

[PRBuzz]

Most enjoyable singers in my yard are the finches, especially the yellow canary variety: gold finch. Song and tree sparrow (a chirper) aren't far behind.

[FishermanTim]

Since most of the birds are going through their mating rituals, I can only imagine what kick of havoc you might encounter by wearing a brightly colored ORANGE hawaiian shirt outdoors?

[Saltheart]

Nice bright colors on the oriole. Did you put the oranges out because they eat them or because the color attracts them?

My mother had several bird feeders in a tree close to our bay window. We got lots of finches going after I think thistle seeds? There was a whole army of the finches with all different colorations.. We also got the occasional hummingbird and lots of other pretty ones but never an oriole.

Unfortunately I have not kept up the feeding. I am never around to look out the window to see them . I do like seeing all the variety though.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by Saltheart

Nice bright colors on the oriole. Did you put the oranges out because they eat them or because the color attracts them?

They chow down on them hard until there is nothing left.

For humming birds I find they have a hard time finding their feeder but if you put a really bright cloth near the feeder, it is a magnet for them. Once they know where it is they come back all summer and you don't need the attractor.

[FishermanTim]

Orioles are an interesting bird. The arrive in spring just before the crab apple tree in our yard blooms. That's because orioles eat the flowers (or more specifically, part of the flowers). They are very fond of fruit. We will put out cut apples and oranges. If you can afford it, you could also try grapes and raisins too. The best part is that MANY birds will partake, as they're dietary needs are as varied as ours.

If you want to watch an "aerial raid", toss whole peanuts out in the yard and wait for the bluejays to find them.
They WILL find them, and won't stop until they are ALL GONE!

[justplugit]

The ones i miss, and haven't seen since i was a kid are the Rosebreasted Grossbeak, Blue Bunting and Scarlet Taninger. Although i was lucky enough to see a flock of the Scarlets in a grove of white birches 25 years ago.

We get the warbler flights come through here the 1st week in May.
The woods are alive with their singing.

Amazing ,you can get within 2 ft of some of the them as in many cases they have never seen a human being in their flights from the rain forests to the tundra.

[FishermanTim]

A lot of the 'colorful" song birds (bluebirds for example) are having a hard time keeping their numbers up because of the cowbird.
The cowbird will lay it's egg in with the bluebirds, and it will hatch first.
The chick will then proceed to push out its competitors, and I mean literally push them out of the nest. That is why when driving through a lot of rural areas they put up bluebird boxes to try and prevent the cowbirds from invading the nests.
I saw a special on this a number of years ago, but I can't recall where.

(Here's another screw-up that';s man-made: snakes in Hawaii.
Hawaii doesn't have snakes, except for the ones that stowed away with air shipments over the years. The result is that there are species of birds in Hawaii and the south pacific that have been eradicated.)

[justplugit]

Ya FT, it's amazing how many birds have become extinct.

My wife bought a book, Birds of NY State published in 1843 at a garage sale for two dollars! It's about 10 inches thick with all colored lithographs that are worth a fortune if you break up the pics in the book, but she has kept it together for it's historical value.

You wouldn't believe the pictures of birds and ducks that were there at the time
and now extinct for various reasons, mostly because of man.

[ProfessorM]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

I thought the same thing, but I saw the bird that made the sound.

Mockingbirds imitate catbirds a lot . I am sure you are right.

Plant a lot of berry bearing shrubs too, like Viburnums, as they attract a lot of birds. I have 12 different varieties, they look real nice too and the berries last all winter or until the birds discover them

[FishermanTim]

One of the more interesting aspects of backyard birdwatching is if you have trees nearby that birds are nesting in, you will eventually see what the young birds look like. For example, young cardinals are colored like the female. Another is when sparrows leave the nest, they don't leave the area. They will continually try to get the parents to feed them like they did when in the nest. (If you see a sparrow hunched down with its wings fluttering by its side with its mouth wide open, that a "fledgling" that is trying to sponge a free meal from mom and dad.