jbh@hpcndaw.HP.COM (Joel Hurmence) (05/09/89)
All this talk of hummingbirds makes me envious :-(. We do not get many hummingbirds where I live on the Colorado plains, but we do get a good number of northern orioles (Bullock's race). I am told that orioles are attracted to sugar water feeders like hummingbirds. Has anyone out there had any experience with this? Do they take the same sugar water solution as hummingbirds? What kind of feeder should be provided (I assume a perch is required)? Is there a preferred location for the feeder? Thanks in advance for the info! Joel "trying to find a substitute for hummingbirds" Hurmence
donnam@thor.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Donna Mitchell) (05/09/89)
In article <2950013@hpcndaw.HP.COM> jbh@hpcndaw.HP.COM (Joel Hurmence) writes: >All this talk of hummingbirds makes me envious :-(. We do not get many >hummingbirds where I live on the Colorado plains, but we do get >a good number of northern orioles (Bullock's race). I am told that >orioles are attracted to sugar water feeders like hummingbirds. >Has anyone out there had any experience with this? Do they take the >same sugar water solution as hummingbirds? What kind of feeder >should be provided (I assume a perch is required)? Is there a >preferred location for the feeder? Thanks in advance for the info! > I have both hummers and orioles feeding from the same feeders. The hummers (naturally) don't have any trouble feeding from the hummingbird feeders, but the orioles have trouble hanging onto the feeder. They (orioles) do better on the multi-feeders that have perches. However, when they leave the feeder, it swings violently and nectur is lost. To help the orioles, I have positioned several feeders near thing they and perch on: a lath house, branches of trees, etc. This works great. Several stores locally have "oriole" feeders and nectur. They really are just bigger hummer feeders with perches. They are orange or yellow. (Orange and yellow attrack oriole as red attracks hummers.) The nectur is colored orange. Instructions on the feeder package state the a nectur of 1 part sugar to 6 parts water with a little orange food coloring and orange flavoring it the formula. I have seen these feeders in a couple of the higher quality nursery catalogues. But, as I said earlier, orioles around here like the hummer feeders. Donna donnam@palomar.SanDiego.NCR.COM
gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gordon Hester) (05/10/89)
While I have never fed orioles myself, I understand that they will come to take citrus fruit (or oranges, at least.) Cut the fruit in halves and find a way to attach it where they can feed and you can watch. I've also heard that emptied-out orange halves can be used with some fruit jelly put in them, but don't know if this is really adequate food for the birds in terms of nourishment. I would think orioles would be unable to feed from a conventional hummingbird feeder, since they can't hover and those feeders typically don't provide a place for a large bird to perch. Gordon Hester gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu