Baltimore Oriole

Thanks Arun

you're welcom

Awesome spotting !!

Thanks AliHp

very very Beautiful...:)

Thank you, Harsha Singh. I hope this little wayward Oriole is doing fine. He was seen from December 12th until January 11th and then was not seen on an unusually warm winter day on January 12th. It is not once again cold enough to keep ice cubes from melting even if placed in the light of the sun.

Beautiful picture of a lovely bird.

Mcaul6515

Saturday January 12th was an extremely warm day where I live in Wisconsin, USA and there were few birds that came to any of my feeding stations. "Sparky" as he has come to be known, was not seen at all that day. It was the very first day he was a no show. Yesterday January 13th, there was no one available to see if he returned. After I am done posting this comment, I will be going out in the predawn light to fill the feeding stations and then wait to see if he appears. If he left for warmer climates, I wish him all the best and Godspeed.

Is he still doing well?

Thanks for updating us on what is happening with this hardy individual! I really hope he makes it through the winter!

Birdlady6000. This bird is being followed regularly by a good number in the birding community in the State of Wisconsin where he is living this winter. He was nicknamed "Sparky" by a bird loving lady from Minnesota, who also is following my daily posts to a birding sight. Spark, is doing well, and dining mostly on live meal worms. I buy them and then feed them lots of starchy food, before then feeding them to Sparky. He also dines on fresh oranges, and prefers Mandarin oranges to any other type I buy. He is actually finicky when it comes to his oranges, and will only eat a little of an orange unless it is a California Cutie Mandarin Orange. Go figure, this bird has good and expensive tastes!!! Spark showed up at my feeder on the 12th of December, and has been seen everyday since. He is present in my yard as I type this message to you. 1/10/2013. I am hoping that with the shelter I built for him, the heat lamp I provide him on extremely cold days, and providing him with fresh meal worms, oranges and all the other things he needs, he will not only survive this winter, but thrive. My goal is to help him until the others of his kind arrive back to my State this spring from Mexico, or Central America. Thanks for caring, and thanks so very much for asking about this wayward bird.

Another beautiful spotting Willie. Also interesting to follow his survival! How is he doing now?

Thanks Jolly. If I continue to see him after tomorrow, he will go into the record books as only the 5th Baltimore Oriole ever spotted in Wisconsin after December 31st. I am hoping he survives and thrives all winter long, then he would really be an extra special record setting bird.

Thanks for the information and thanks for sharing. Nice work. More power.

Jolly, if I could coax him into my house, I can assure you he would not wish to go into the harsh winter to eat, he would simply eat in my house. He sits near the feeding station for hours at a time, and comes to there to eat when he needs to refuel. I set out fresh oranges and meal worms for him twice daily. He has the same down feathers as other birds that winter here, he just does not have the same diet. This winter I am watching him do things I have never seen an Oriole do. Including hanging from the side of a tree to get suet from a large hollow. The suet is placed there daily by me for the woodpeckers, and he is acting just like them at times.

Its quite interesting to note that he did not freeze to death! I wonder how he manages to eat and keep warm. Any ideas? Could be staying in the warmth of your home somewhere and just coming out to feed.

Thanks Jolly, As I type this he is sitting just over my right shoulder in a clump of snow covered branches in my yard. December 28th and he is still here. I am documenting it, in other places but am not going to post my daily sighting of him here. If however he is still here on January 1st, I will be posting to say he has done what few Baltimore Orioles have done before.

Congratulations Willie. Interesting documentation.

Thank you so very much Jakubko, I hope that someday soon, I can say the same to you. This spotting is not of a rare bird, but it is very very RARE to see one where I live in Winter. They migrate south and spend their winters in Florida, Mexico or Central America, not Wisconsin. If he makes it to January 1st he will probably go into the record books as only the 4th documented Baltimore Oriole to be seen past December in my State since 1958

Braulio Alejandro Rivas Tapia and Reza Hashemizadeh, thanks for your comments, I am deeply honored by you, all the others and the Project Noah Staff for choosing my spotting for such an honor.

Congratulations on Spotting of the Day, Willie!

Ismael, yours is an older male, that is why the coloration is different then mine, which is a younger male. Your bird is where it should be, mine should be somewhere near where yours was spotted, not here in Wisconsin

Cool, my spot has different coloration http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/161...

Yay Willie, Congratulations on this wonderful spot and SotD :)

Nice and well deserved!
U should put it on the mission: Birds of the World!