Nature Bulletin No. 300-A   March 30, 1968
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Richard B. Ogilvie, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE ORIOLES

One of the privileges of being a small boy in a little country town, 
especially if you had been taught by your grandpa to pick a good spot 
and then sit motionless for a long, long time, was that you shared the 
secret lives of the wild creatures. One day a muskrat crept out of a pond 
to sniff at our bare toes and a red fox came trotting around the shore. At 
home, we watched a Baltimore oriole weave her wonderful hanging 
nest at the tip of a drooping branch on the huge elm by our back porch. 
Her nests of last year and the year before still hung on the tree but she 
built a new one, using fibers of old milkweed stalks, some of the string 
and yarn we hung on the clothesline and, finally, long horsehairs from 
the barnyard. The Winesap apple tree was in full bloom, the bees were 
making honey, and the green grass grew all around.

The Baltimore Oriole was so named because the colors of the male, 
fiery orange and jet black, were those of Lord Baltimore who founded 
the Maryland colony, and because it resembled the Golden Oriole of the 
Old World. The true orioles, however, are found only in Europe, 
Africa, Asia and Australia. Our orioles belong to a different family of 
birds peculiar to this western hemisphere, most of them in the tropics of 
Central and South America, including such well known but very 
dissimilar birds as the bobolink, meadowlarks, blackbirds and grackles. 
American orioles are notable for their gaudy colors, the types of nests 
they build, and their habit of migrating singly, rather than in flocks. 
There are six Mexican species which range into parts of our 
southwestern states but only one of them, Scott's Oriole, comes as far 
north as the desert canyons in southern Utah and Nevada. West of the 
Rockies, Bullock's Oriole is as common as the Baltimore is in the East.

With the exception of the scarlet tanager and a few of the little 
warblers, the orange-and-black plumage of the male Baltimore oriole is 
the most striking of any of our eastern songbirds. It is found from the 
Gulf coast to southern Canada, east of the Rockies, and winters in 
Central or South America. The immature birds and most females are 
olive-yellow above and yellow below but the females vary considerably 
The male's song, rather low-pitched and abrupt but musical and ringing 
varies with the individual and, though easily imitated, is difficult to 
describe. Thoreau said that one oriole, at Walden Pond, whistled: "Eat 
it, Potter, eat it! " While papa wanders and whistles nearby, mamma 
weaves the deep gourd-shaped hammock in which to lay from 4 to 6 
eggs. He helps her raise the young. They seem to prefer tall shade trees, 
especially elms and sycamores, rather than forest trees; and rarely use 
any grasses or bright-colored material for the hanging nest. They eat 
some fruit and green peas but feed mostly on insects.

The Orchard Oriole is as widely distributed as the Baltimore but is 
much less common and very shy. Instead of orange, the rump and 
underparts of the male are a rich rust-brown. His song is more 
elaborate, rapid and high-pitched than that of his cousin. Orchard 
orioles commonly nest in the tops of apple or pear trees although they 
also choose trees along stream banks -- especially weeping willows. 
The nest is a cup-shaped pouch, 3 or 4 inches deep, intricately 
interwoven of long tough blades of fine grasses and lined with soft plant 
fibers, horsehair or feathers. It is a work of art. The orchard oriole is 
valuable to the fruit grower and the farmer because, although they eat 
some fruit and berries, they feed chiefly on insects.

Baltimore is proud of its white marble doorsteps, orioles and oysters.