bird houses - bird watching - Oriole Feeders

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Bird Watching Guide - Oriole Feeders
By Preddy Boise

There are many beautiful birds in the world, but the bright orange color of the Oriole is one of America’s more beautiful summer time visitors. These birds love to sip nectar from flowers and other flowering plants. Besides flower nectar they also love grape jelly, and fruits. While you can watch them eating their nectar straight from the garden flowers, you might enjoy seeing them at Oriole feeders as well.

Oriole feeders resemble hummingbird feeders in that there are little wells that the Orioles can drink their nectar from. These specialized feeders allow the Orioles better access to the nectar. Their bright orange coloring can be detected by Orioles even from a great distance.

The best type of Oriole feeder will have both a bee, and ant guard around it to keep these insects away. Should you leave your Oriole feeder untended then the bees will fight the Orioles for possession of the nectar stand. Therefore it’s wise to invest in a bee and ant guard for any Oriole feeders that you buy.

The Oriole feeder should have a built-in moat so that there is water between the ants and the nectar at all times. A nectar scale on your new Oriole feeders will help you to gauge how much nectar there is in the feeders. A feeder that has perches around the edge will give you the opportunity to view the Orioles without any distractions. The most important feature of the feeder is

that it should be easy to clean. This is very important because an unclean feeder will allow mold to grow on, and in it.

The best time to clean your feeders is every 1 to 3 days. You’ll need to remove all of the left-over nectar and any fruits that are on the feeder. Then rinse out the feeder by washing it with warm water. Adding a handful of uncooked rice to the water and shaking the feeder tube will remove any excess nectar stuck to the sides. Once your Oriole feeders are clean and you are sure that no mold is growing on them, you can refill the feeders with nectar.

Should you prefer you can put grape jelly into your feeders instead. However don’t put food coloring or other dyes as these can be dangerous to the Orioles. A possible recipe for grape jelly follows. Use 1 part water and 1 part grape jelly. Mix them together until it resembles a thick juice. If you want you can use a blender to get the right consistency. Afterwards using a funnel pour the grape jelly juice into the Oriole feeders. Keep the rest of the mixture in the refrigerator.

Another good idea is to place an Orange halve on a twig, or try placing your Oriole feeders in a patch of bright-orange flowers as they’re attracted to orange more than any other color. These few simple steps along with your Oriole feeders are all that is required for attracting the bright Orioles to your garden.