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Mass Audubon Oriole Project 2007
Season Summary
The female arrived to check out my little pond, especially the frog fountain spouting water. The female stepped onto a water lettuce, which turned over. Orioles can swim. - Sara Brydges, Concord
Enthusiasm for watching and recording orioles was undiminished in the Project's third full season (See scorecard below). We now have reports from 80% of the towns in the Commonwealth with most of the "holes" in the Connecticut Valley and the Berkshires. See the revised listing of the towns that still lack oriole reports. We are getting denser coverage within towns and we have more participants tracking their birds from year to year, both important factors in creating a valid data base.
2007 Scorecard (2006 results in parenthesis):
- Total orioles reported this season: 2,679 (2,035) - plus 54 from out of state! We added 4 new states this year: AZ, CT, NJ and TN, though we're not sure what to do about AZ since Baltimore Orioles don't occur there!
- Total Orioles in database: 7,521 (4,788)
- Total localities reported this season: 1,266 (1,168)
- New localities: 542 (919)
- Repeat localities: 317 (249)
NB: These numbers are calculated from the presence or absence of a check in the "Repeat Box" on the data card which many "repeaters" apparently failed to check. This accounts for the fact that New plus Repeat localities do not equal Total localities.
- Active nests confirmed this season: 226 (221)
- Total nests in database: 694 (468)
- Participants this season: 782 (728)
- Total participants in database: 2,066 (1,354)
- Towns reporting this season: 245 (223)
- New towns: 28 (38)
- Total towns in database: 281(253)
- Towns with most orioles recorded this season:
- Weston: 54
- Plymouth: 47
- Shrewsbury: 47
- Westford: 44
- Boston: 27
- Champion Oriole Counters: Sarah Strong of Weston with 63 records eclipsed Sharla Fenwick's total of 35 records in 2006. Second, third and fourth places respectively go to Karen Nelson of Shrewsbury (40 records), John Galluzzo of Marshfield (27 records) and Nancy Swirka of Hull (25 records). Karen and Sarah were in second and third places respectively in 2006.
Data Maps
Maps of the results from 2007 are available through the links below. We present the information in map format to control for differences in level of effort across towns.
Maps from previous years are also available.
Orioles and Climate Change
Orchard Orioles may provide more obvious evidence of global warming than Baltimore Orioles, since the former species is one of a number of "southern" species that has expanded its range northward, becoming common where it was once rare. Nevertheless, the following comment in the species account for Baltimore Oriole in Edgar Kincaid's The Birdlife of Texas, published more than 30 years ago, is at least of passing interest: "In Texas as of 1972, Icterus galbula was still apparently numerous as a migrant, but it was practically out of the nesting business. The decline of the Baltimore Oriole as a breeder in Texas started in the 1920's, long before the first application of DDT in the 1940's. A trend toward a hotter and drier climate was perhaps responsible."
Did You Know?
 Wendy Muellers of Westwood writes of her backyard orioles: "Observed the female carrying a white sack away from the nest (forget what that is called!)." It's called a "fecal sac." According to The Birdwatcher's Companion by Christopher Leahy (2nd Ed., Princeton University Press, 2004) it is "a gelatinous pouch into which the feces of nestling (mainly passerine) birds are excreted. The adaptation would seem to be an aid to nest sanitation. Adult birds remove the sacs from the cloacae of their young and usually eat them or carry them away from the nest at least during the early stages of the brooding period."
It's All in the Details
We welcome any and all accounts of behavior and other aspects of your orioles' lives that you observe. For example, documentation of parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds is always of interest as are descriptions of unusual nesting circumstances. We are also grateful for simple expressions of enthusiasm for these exquisite birds and the fun of watching them - of which we get a great many! Here is a sample from 2007:
5M/3F were the most I saw at the same time in the backyard. Males are actively chasing each other, while the females calmly eat. I have a suet cage with nesting materials including shreds of an old plastic tarp similar to the ones I found woven into a nest. I have this sitting in the platform feeder with the cups of grape jelly to see if the orioles will take any. They have already eaten 48 oz of grape jelly and suger water this week. - Debbie Melahn, Plymouth
This year I have the honor of hosting 3 Oriole nests in my yard. One in particular is right above my deck. I noticed it while weeding the garden. At first I thought it was just a clump of leaves but upon closer inspection it was a nest. I have been watching it closely for a long while and I have seen the Mom and Dad both tending to it. Now it wiggles with babies inside and when I am in my flowers I can hear the babies tweeting away. I have noticed how they take turns feeding the little ones. Conveniently this nest is also right above the supply of oranges and jelly - how smart are they??? I am hoping to see the babies going out for their flight lessons soon. I will keep a close lookout and keep you posted on their flight school. I have also noticed that on my daily walks down our local bike path that the Orioles are quite prevalent. It is peaceful and secluded with many areas for them to nest and with an ample food supply. I have counted at least 25 Orioles both male and female on my walks. Each one is different in color and markings. - Kristine Spinney, Amesbury
Today we found a baby Oriole trying out his/her new wings! My son found him in the grass in our backyard (north Attleboro, MA) just underneath one of our Maple trees. We observed him/her skipping along and then clinging to the side of another Maple tree close by in our backyard. He/she was chirping quite a bit! He/she still had small little bits of white "downy fur" on his head, but we observed his beautiful yellow color on his chest and tips of his wings. We heard (possibly his Mom) calling out to him and he answering back. We did not actually see a nest, but are sure there is one in our Maple tree up high. - Deirdre Salha, North Attleboro An unusual sighting while doing the Breeding Bird Atlas survey. Two active oriole nests on the same tree branch about 5 feet apart about 25 feet up. Both nests very active containing noisy, bouncing young. Females and 1, possibly 2, males were repeatedly bringing food to the chicks in the nests. Couldn't tell if each parent was nest site particular, but we believe so. An active and noisy site, young must have been close to fledging. - Chris Hepburn, Newton
Thank you!
This project could not exist without the effort and enthusiasm of citizen oriole watchers throughout the Commonwealth who take the time to report the status of their orioles year after year. We are immensely grateful and hope that you will keep up the good work. If you can add a location or two next year - or get a friend to do so - so much the better! And if your orioles aren't yet logged into our database, get with the program! (Please)
Learn more
Learn more about the Oriole Project, including how you can contribute:
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