The Baltimore Oriole is a beautiful bright orange and black bird that breeds across North America and migrates south in flocks to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. It is the state bird of Maryland and the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball team was named after this bird.
Baltimore Orioles forage in trees and shrubs and make short flights to catch insects. Backyard birders like to attract these birds with special oriole feeders, which contain the same food as hummingbird feeders, but are designed specifically for orioles: they are orange instead of red and have larger perches. Baltimore Orioles are also fond of halved oranges and grape jelly.
Baltimore Orioles have a loud, strong song. To some birdwatchers, part of their repertoire sounds like Here here! Come right here, dear!
Sexual dimorphism refers to observable differences between males and females of the same species. In basic terms, it means that a male of a species is easily distinguished from a female. In birds this usually means differences in size or in... Read more »
Since we moved to our new home (in northern Illinois) we've been trying to attract birds to our backyard. The first few weeks we didn't see a single bird at our feeders. The first bird to visit was an American Goldfinch at the end of February. In... Read more »
We've been getting more and more birds at our backyard feeders since we moved here in February. Yesterday morning we were delighted to see our first Baltimore Oriole!! He was hanging around all day and he's back today singing his heart out in our backyard. He's probably... Read more »
In honor of our new backyard bird, this week's highlighted t-shirt design is our cute Birdorable Baltimore Oriole. These small blackbirds live across the eastern part of North America and they love it if you put out some grape jelly and oranges for them! Males... Read more »
