Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole builds a nest at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pa., May 2025.
Everything about a Baltimore oriole nest is ingenious. From the design and materials to the location selection, the nest is a perfect haven to raise young birds safely from predators (for the most part).
Fall is the best time to find oriole nests, after the leaves have fallen. Of course, by that time, the orioles are long gone, and the nest is a mere relic of the past breeding season, but it’s still interesting to see one of the pouch-like nests dangling from the end of a branch.
The other week, I was lucky enough to watch a female oriole build one of those remarkable nests. I was walking along a trail that was teeming with yellow warblers, catbirds, and Baltimore orioles when I glanced up and saw an oriole perched at the end of a branch overhead.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole builds a nest at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pa., May 2025.
Baltimore orioles have one of the most unique nests of all the songbirds in New England.
According to allaboutbirds.org, “Baltimore Orioles build remarkable, sock-like hanging nests, woven together from slender fibers. The female weaves the nest, usually 3 to 4 inches deep, with a small opening, 2 to 3 inches wide, on top and a bulging bottom chamber, 3 to 4 inches across, where her eggs will rest. She anchors her nest high in a tree, first hanging long fibers over a small branch, then poking and darting her bill in and out to tangle the hank. While no knots are deliberately tied, soon the random poking has made knots and tangles, and the female brings more fibers to extend, close, and finally line the nest. Construction materials can include grass, strips of grapevine bark, wool, and horsehair, as well as artificial fibers such as cellophane, twine, or fishing line. Females often recycle fibers from an old nest to build a new one. Males occasionally bring nesting material, but don’t help with the weaving. Building the nest takes about a week, but windy or rainy weather may push this as long as 15 days. The nest is built in three stages: first, the female weaves an outer bowl of flexible fibers to provide support. Next, springy fibers are woven into an inner bowl, which maintains the bag-like shape of the nest. Finally, she adds a soft lining of downy fibers and feathers to cushion the eggs and young.”
During my recent trip to Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pa., I came across an oriole pair building a nest. We saw tons of orioles overall, but this was the only nest I found under construction. I was amazed at how much progress the orioles made in just one day. The first photo below was taken on a Sunday and next two photos (and the one above) were taken on a Monday. Nature is amazing.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole builds a nest at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pa., May 2025.Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole builds a nest at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pa., May 2025.Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole builds a nest at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pa., May 2025.
Photo by Chris Bosak – Baltimore oriole, New England, 2024.
When the peak of your favorite hobby lasts only a few weeks each year, you better make the most of that time.
For birdwatchers, that is spring. Specifically, the last week of April and the first two weeks of May. Of course, the spring migration started many weeks ago and will last into June, but the sweet spot is those few weeks.
As luck would have it this year, my niece planned her wedding for mid-May. The wedding was held in my old hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. I didn’t know it when I was growing up, but Presque Isle State Park in Erie is one of the top birdwatching destinations in the country. Presque Isle is a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie and, in addition to the many birds that nest there, several others use the land as a stopover before crossing over into Canada.
Instead of going home for a long weekend, I took the week off and made a vacation of it. I visited the park for several hours on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Each day I saw something a little different. On Monday’s walk, I saw 51 different species. I did not keep track on Tuesday’s walk as I wanted to focus on photographing some of the warblers.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole perches on a wire in New England, May 2020. Merganser Lake.
A Day on Merganser Lake
I’m getting a lot of reports about Baltimore orioles this spring. It’s great that so many people are seeing them and getting them to their feeders. I’m hearing that some orioles are going to orange halves, some to nectar feeders and some to suet. I also know that orioles like grape jelly. “My” oriole goes to the suet cake and ignores the oranges, grape jelly and nectar feeder right next to it. His visits are also very short and infrequent. Striking bird, for sure.
(Repeat text for context: I’m running out of COVID-19 lockdown themes so from now until things get back to some semblance of normalcy, I will simply post my best photo from the previous day. You could say it fits because of its uncertainty and challenge. I’ll call the series “A Day on Merganser Lake,” even though that’s not the real name of the lake I live near in southwestern Connecticut, it’s just a nod to my favorite duck family.)
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole perches on a branch in New England, May 2020. Merganser Lake.
A Day on Merganser Lake XVIII
Here’s another first at the feeder for me. It was hard to miss this guy as he perched in a branch outside the window. Wow, the color! He mostly hung out on the branch as if deciding what food to try out. I have oranges and grape jelly offered — two foods orioles are supposed to like. This guy ignored both and grabbed a few bites of suet before moving along.
There will be more photos of this guys coming soon.
(Repeat text for context: I’m running out of COVID-19 lockdown themes so from now until things get back to some semblance of normalcy, I will simply post my best photo from the previous day. You could say it fits because of its uncertainty and challenge. I’ll call the series “A Day on Merganser Lake,” even though that’s not the real name of the lake I live near in southwestern Connecticut, it’s just a nod to my favorite duck family.)
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Baltimore oriole perches on a branch in New England, May 2020. Merganser Lake.
Birds of New England.com 