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Oriole Project 2006 Mid-Season Report

“I’m so excited…” “Awesome to watch the babies being fed…” “So much fun and so entertaining…” “I stopped my car to look at him (almost causing a collision!)” “I’m thrilled you are having this project…” (Multiple exclamation points excluded to save space!!!)   This is just a small sampling of the hundreds of messages that our growing army of oriole watchers e-mailed us with their reports this year, but it gives some sense of the excitement the project is generating. Much of this is due to the birds themselves, of course, their beauty and fascinating ways making many participants wax poetic (See below). But it is also clear that people are deriving personal satisfaction from contributing to our knowledge of these glorious birds and helping us figure out how they’re doing.

Raining Orioles.  Despite (or because of?) an unusually wet spring and early summer, there has been no shortage of orioles to watch this year. It’s much too early in this long-term project to make any blanket statements about the overall health of the oriole population or to detect trends. However many veteran birders have reported that orioles have been notably abundant in 2005 and 2006. And we got many anecdotes like the following from oriole counters:

“There have been more of these birds this year and last in the area I am reporting than there were 2001-2004 (0 in 2001-2003, one pair in 2004 and 2 in 2005.” Joshua J. Getter, North Attleboro. (#474)

“In past years the orioles have come and gone by June 1st or so and there weren’t as many. This year is so different. As a matter of fact I can hear them outside now as I’m typing. There seems to be way more song in the air than in the past” Amy-laing Bobokowski, Holden. (#590)

“We had many pairs of orioles on our property in the past, but not for 10 years or so> Very happy to see them back again.” (2 males and a female reported 6/10/06) (#773)

“The orioles appeared on this date (5/21/06) for the first time in the 53 years we have lived here…We observed both birds in the process of building nests…” Virginia Fairfield, Wakefield  (#275)

Though we cannot draw any scientifically supportable conclusions from such anecdotes alone, if enough such careful observers continue to report on “their” orioles each year, we can track annual variations and over time detect long term trends.  

Some Numbers. It’s only halftime, so you’ll have to wait for the End-of-Season report to find out which Massachusetts town will be the Oriole Capital this year and who will Oriole King or Queen (Teaser: It’s looking like there may be upsets in the offing). However we can report that our database is growing healthily. As of June 30:

• 2035 orioles have been reported
• 1148 new locations were documented
• 574 repeat locations were confirmed (very important)
• 243 towns and cities have at least one oriole counter (71.3% of all the municipalities in the Commonwealth). Check the map for the 98 towns that still aren’t playing!   

It’s All in the Details. Based on the excellent detailed reports we are getting this year, Icterophiles (oriole lovers) seem to be meticulous types. When we started this project we thought it might be hard to get people to confirm (and re-confirm) the presence of particular nesting birds. Au contraire! Most people are clearly documenting specific birds and many are confirming nests and counting young.  Well-documented anecdotes about past years (See above) are also useful. This tracking of particular pairs in your yard or neighborhood is very important for our eventual ability to detect trends over time. Keep up the good work!  

Orioles and Inchworms. Many oriole watchers reported seeing birds feeding on “inchworms.” Judging by the location and dates of the observations it seems likely that the oriole population is benefiting from the recent outbreak of the Asian Winter Moth  (Operophtera brumata) that has been defoliating much of eastern Massachusetts in recent springs. That out breaks of such forest pests as Spruce Budworm can boost bird populations by allowing the successful rearing or more young is well documented. Could something similar be happening with Massachusetts orioles?

Oriole Botany. One of the optional observations we encourage you to send us is the kind of tree your orioles are nesting in. Back in the 1970’s and 80’s studies in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania showed that the clear preference of northeastern orioles was for American Elm. This is no longer the case of course, due not to any change in the domiciliary tastes of orioles, but rather to the demise of the American Elm resulting from the introduction of the fungus-bearing Dutch Elm Beetle. Other tree favorites noted in the studies were apple, silver maple, sugar maple and American sycamore. All of these (and 12 other trees, identified to species) were cited by our oriole watchers with silver maple being a clear favorite. But interestingly the most commonly mentioned nest tree in Massachusetts in 2006 was “oak” (species rarely noted).

Where to Look: Fairways and Cemeteries. Orioles tend to prefer to nest in large trees bordered or surrounded by large open areas, preferably near water. Before Europeans arrived, they found such habitat along river corridors and wetland edges and where fires or blow downs created clearings. One reason to hope that orioles will remain fairly common is that we appear to create (unintentionally) good oriole habitat in the form of city parks, golf courses and cemeteries. Or at least that’s a theory that you can help corroborate. Certainly we have received a notable number of records from all of these heavily managed habitats, but perhaps that’s just “observer bias.”  One way to find out is to systematically survey your town’s cemeteries and golf courses for nesting orioles, but if you decide to do this be sure and send us a report when you don’t find any orioles as well as when you do. Documenting apparently good habitat that orioles aren’t using is as important as noting the places where they actually nest. 

Answers to Your Questions

A baby oriole has fallen out of its nest. What should I do? It is normal for fledgling orioles and other songbirds to leave the nest before they can fly. They hop around the garden cheeping as if in distress, but in fact they are simply alerting their parents to their whereabouts and begging for food. The greatest single threat to fledglings at this stage is cats and making your yard cat-free until the young bird can fly will increase its life expectancy. Do not try to return the bird to its nest, put it in a box and attempt to rear it or take to an animal control officer. (For a more detailed account of dealing with baby birds check our website, or call or e-mail our Wildlife Information Line at 781-259-2150.

How often do you want me to count my orioles?  Our main goal is to document nesting orioles and then track whether they continue to nest in the same locality (not necessarily the same tree) in succeeding years. If you have a singing male oriole or other evidence of nesting, but not a confirmed breeding record (actual nest, young birds, etc.) send us this record, but send us another one if you confirm a nest. Once you have confirmed nesting at a particular site, you needn’t record it again until the following year. In the next nesting season we want to know not only if your bird returns, but also if it doesn’t. This “negative data” is just as important as the positive kind (though not as much fun).

We Still Need…
More reports of urban orioles. City parks often have great oriole nesting habitat, but we’re not getting as many reports from urban green spaces as we would like. City birders please report for oriole duty.

Oriole Idylls. One of several pleasures of collecting and analyzing data for the Oriole Project is the opportunity to read sometimes in eloquent prose - about the experiences people of different ages and backgrounds have encountering orioles in different contexts. Here’s a small sampling.

“As an aside, several years ago in the aftermath of a brief thunder shower and in the full bloomed apple tree in the yard and back lit by the westerning sun and while the rain dripped out of the trees a robust male B. Oriole moved strongly in the apple tree. Fresh and new and as if I had seen this bird for the first time! One of those moments that one never ever forgets...”   (#419)

“My son and I were at this large park, playing in the playground area near the south edge of the park.  My son said, 'what kind of bird has orange with black stripes?' and I said 'why?'  He pointed up at a large, tree next to the playground on the very edge of the park and there was a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole!  We were able to observe him for a good 3 or 4 minutes as he flitted from branch to branch.  We didn't see the female, though I assumed she was in their nest in the leafy tree.  He eventually disappeared into the tree. We will return soon to see him again and maybe get a glimpse of the female”. Calder Amsden-Iuliano, Watertown.  (#444)

“…the first time (around 7:20 pm) the call stopped me in my tracks!  What a welcome sound - like gold in the bird's throat.  Singing a long song in a tree bordering the field that is the core of the Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary land…” Emily Teller, Westford.  (#243)
 
“I pulled into the BJ's Wholesale in Danvers, MA and a bright orange bird with black caught my eye.  I stopped my car to watch it as I've never seen one around here.  Another one (the female I assume as she wasn't as vibrant) landed right next to it.  They were in a wooded area at the corner of the BJ's parking lot.”  Diane Britter, Salem  (#684)

“I didn't notice the Oriole nest in my gigantic mostly dead tree.  Sadly 'the men' came to cut down the tree the other day... they noticed the nest.  Before cutting the tree...they took the entire section of branch with the nest and four eggs... and tied it to another tree limb next to it, without touching it.  I haven't noticed the mother yet...hopefully she'll return.      My neighbor has a nest too.” LynnAnne Hagar, Essex  (#659)

“Today I had a baby oriole get away from it's mom. It could fly but not very well.  All day my kids and I tracked her hoping to help her.  She landed in a beach bucket so I gently turned it on its side so she could get out.  She made a complete circle all the way around the yard and finally from about 6:00 this morning till now (8:00 pm) the Mom and Dad found the peeping baby and they were so happy to be together.  She is now out there feeding her baby and hopefully they can get back to the nest tonight.  I know I was super happy that they found each other and so were my kids. We will all sleep well tonight.” Kristine Spinney, Amesbury  (#209)

Thank You to all you Citizen Scientists, Birders, Nature Lovers and Oriole-philes who have taken the time to give us so much excellent data on your orioles. We gather from your messages that you are having a good time working on this project, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to take time from your busy lives to send us records. Please keep them coming. And please don’t hesitate to make suggestions about any aspect of this Project including this newsletter.  Enjoy the rest of the summer!