For the Birds Radio Program: Oriole
This is the week Baltimore Orioles start appearing in Duluth. This program was one of the first three aired on KUMD in May 1986. I came into the station with three scripts when I wanted to see if anyone was interested in a local program about birds, Stephanie Hemphill recorded them on the spot, and decided I should do the program every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So I did.
Transcript
If you have a shade tree in your yard, it’s time once again to hang out oranges. This won’t transform your Duluth home into a tropical paradise, but it will at least bring a little piece of the tropics home to you—the Baltimore Oriole.
During spring migration, orioles gorge on oranges wherever they can find them. Even when flying high overhead, orioles are attracted to the color orange the same way hummingbirds are attracted to red. Cut an orange in half and tie each half to a tree branch. It’s a trick getting the string to hold. Some hardware and gardening stores sell special orange feeders.
You may entice your orioles to stay in your neighborhood all summer if you have mature elms—their favorite tree for nesting. Dutch elm disease is taking a toll on Duluth, but many orioles will settle for other shade trees as long as the outer branches and twigs are sturdy enough to support a light hanging nest and a few small birds but too thin to support curious squirrels and cats.
By early June, for some mysterious reason orioles stop feeding on oranges. If you want to feed them all summer you can plop some cheap grape jelly in a heavy plastic cereal bowl. Set it on a flat feeder, picnic table, or deck railing. Sugar water in a bowl works, too. Some orioles even come to hummingbird feeders. You can also set out pieces of string or yarn for orioles to use in nest-building. Just make sure the pieces are no longer than about four inches—orioles can get strangled in anything longer. If the yarn is brightly colored, it’ll make it a lot easier for you to find their nest.
You won’t find the Baltimore Oriole in the official list of Minnesota birds. In 1973, the American Ornithologists’ Union decided that the Baltimore Oriole and another bird, the Bullock’s Oriole, were merely races of the same species. They combined the two and renamed them the Northern Oriole. Now some researchers think that was a mistake. So if you still say “Baltimore Oriole,” don’t bother breaking the habit—soon you may be correct once again. Ornithology would be a lot easier to learn if we could only persuade the birds to read the bird books.
Orioles are in the blackbird family along with Red-winged Blackbirds and meadowlarks. Their scientific name comes from the Greek word ikteros, for a small yellow bird. Ancient Greeks believed that if a jaundiced person sighted a small yellow bird, that person would instantly be cured and the bird would drop dead. After a long northland winter, if you find that your vision has become jaundiced, the sight of an oriole may indeed cure you. And unless you are a jaundiced ancient Greek, looking at the oriole will not be fatal to the bird. If your hearing has become jaundiced, listen for their flute-like whistle.
This is Laura Erickson, and this program has been For the Birds.