For the Birds Radio Program: Jelly feeder hazard

Original Air Date: June 20, 2002 (estimated date) Rerun Dates: Aug. 14, 2015; Aug. 7, 2012; June 22, 2011; Aug. 20, 2010; June 24, 2009; Aug. 8, 2008; June 7, 2007; June 1, 2006; June 20, 2005

Sometimes grape jelly can be harmful. Laura tells the story of a woman whose oriole got stuck in it.

Duration: 4′28″

Transcript

Last week I got a call from a woman who had witnessed a terrible thing at her feeder. A female oriole feeding on grape jelly actually got stuck in the jelly. She couldn’t extricate herself, and as she struggled and pulled away, most of her tail feathers stayed embedded in the jelly. The woman went out to rescue her, but within minutes of first getting stuck, the oriole was bedraggled, unable to fly, and had only two tail feathers left.

She brought the bird in and tried to clean her up a bit, feeling guilty and responsible. She’d been spooning the jelly onto a platform feeder, and the older jelly had hardened.

When she called me, the bird couldn’t fly at all, and we were afraid that it had damaged its wings as well as its tail in the struggle. This was in early evening and cold outside, so I suggested that she put the bird in a box for the night and we’d figure out what to do in the morning if it survived. But the little oriole was apparently only in shock. As she came out of it, she managed to escape from the box. Suddenly she was flying all around the house, and even with only two tail feathers was managing to negotiate well enough to not bonk into things as she zipped around. So the woman opened a window and the oriole quickly escaped. In the morning there she was at the feeder with her mate again, easy to recognize without the tail feathers but apparently able to survive without help.

I’ve read in a lot of places about feeding grape jelly to orioles, but I haven’t read about the best ways to offer it. When I set it out, I always put just two or three spoonfuls into an orange plastic bowl. Every few days I bring it in, wash the bowl, and set out new jelly. But I never thought through what would happen if l left it out too long during a dry spell–that the jelly would harden and become as difficult to escape as flypaper.

Hopefully this one unfortunate oriole’s experience will serve as a warning to all ofus to be careful to keep the grape jelly clean and fresh.

It also tells us something about the resilience of birds. Orioles weigh a mere one and a half ounces, with delicate hollow bones and fragile internal organs only millimeters from the dangerous world. But they’re more sturdy than we might think. It’s difficult to know what to do when faced with a bird crisis like this. We certainly want to help, but sometimes force help on something that is better off without it. This woman did precisely the right thing–first helping extricate the bird, then bringing it in while it was still in shock and unable to protect itself or fly, putting it in a cardboard box rather than a cage so it wouldn’t abrade its feathers against metal bars, and finally, and perhaps most importantly, recognizing when the bird was ready to deal with the situation herself. A lot of time when people rescue birds, they suddenly realize just how vulnerable even adult birds are. Looking into a fragile songbird’s eyes and bonding with it, they suddenly can’t bear the thought of letting it back outdoors until it’s in perfect shape again. The trick is, in captivity bird feathers get frayed, their unused flight muscles weaken, and they’re unable to produce the vitamin D their bodies manufacture when exposed to sunlight.

Many birds also seem to suffer from either anxiety or depression when stuck in captivity, and during the height of the nesting season, when hormones and a singing male outside the window are enticing them to get back to work on the nest, this can be extraordinarily frustrating for an adult female. Lost tail feathers do compromise a bird’s ability to maneuver in flight, but once an adult bird recognizes the limitations she’s dealing with, she can adapt at least somewhat and the feathers will quickly grow back in. Once she’s able to fly again, even if her body’s not quite as good as it should be, it’s better to let her face the world on her own terms than for us to decide for her that she belongs in a cage. Thanks to being released in time, this oriole and her mate and their young will bring color and music to this yard for many years to come.