Oh Goody! I have to get my feeders ready. My neighbor said the orioles are back too so I need to stock up on oranges and grape jelly.

Hi, Cricket.

I have only used orange colored nectar feeders for the orioles, and honestly haven't seen them going nuts about it. How do you feed the oranges and grape jelly. We always have a few around and I would like to keep them in our yard at least part of the time. We had a nest a couple of years ago. Very interesting to watch them feeding the young.

Check out www.hummingbirds.net. If you click on 'Migration Map', you can see how far across the state they have been sighted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hummingbird migration

I saw one for sure today. I've caught the impression of a hummingbird out of the corner of my eye a couple of times this week, but today I'm certain.
Got the feeder filled and out - ready for tomorrow AM.

I'm in Washington.

i saw my first in southeast today!!

Cora Lea,

Sorry it's taken me so long to answer. Orioles aren't picky about how you feed them but they are very shy and don't like a lot of activity. I put nails in the top of wooden fence posts, cut an orange in half and just stick them on the nails. For the grape jelly I nailed a shallow plastic bowl to the top of the next fence post. Just fill with jelly and they will find it. Catbirds love oranges and grape jelly too.

DH bought me a nice oriole feeder that has two orange pegs and little cup (and I mean little) for jelly. It's very nice and the birds do use it, but I have just as good luck with nails on a fence post.

Happy birding! Cricket

There were two today feeding from the blooms of the fushia plant hubby gave me for Mother's Day....and I only hung it this morning! I am in the Ottumwa area.
SOS

Today I had both hummingbirds and a male and female oriole eating out of my hummingbird feeder today. I got some pictures and have to figure out how to post them into this forum - or at the picture gallery. I had to laugh at the comical orioles. They would hang upside down from the feeder to get the nectar that would drip because of their weight causing the nectar to overflow out of the feeder.

We have a large tabby cat. He sat in the doorway, and when one of the orioles saw him, you would have thought the orioles were warning each other of the world ending. The chatter was not only LOUD, but VERY fast. I shut the door so they could not see the cat, and within a few minutes, they were back to the feeder, sucking away at the food intended for the hummingbirds, while THEIR orange lay on a wooden peg on the deck railing.

Birds are SUCH fun to watch. Squirrels, on the other hand, are a real pain. I caught one today tearing away the grass from a bird's nest. I chased it away, but wonder exactly what it was after. Do the squirrels eat the eggs, or birds??? I guess I never thought about it one way or the other.

i am in davenport, and i have no hummers :(
i have every enticing flower imaginable, yet they havent found their way here ....send 'em my way, will ya?!?!?!?

hummer-less, :(
mic

Mic,

I lived in Davenport for over 10 years and I too had a garden full of flowers. Most were very hummer friendly. In that time I saw a single hummer and he stayed for about 5 minutes to tank up at one of my feeders then he was gone. :(

I moved to a farm north of Durant last August and I've already had 4 visit my garden. Infact i saw my first this year just yesterday.

Clay

my grandparents live in buffalo, and they get lots out there, thats where i saw my first hummer ever! how excited i was :)
they would sit in the apple trees till we walked away then they came to the feeders, they are absolutely beautiful!!!
mic