Return of the Prodigal Grosbeak
The beginning of May is when many migratory songbirds return to the Chicago area. And so, before leaving home for a business trip, I stocked the bird feeders with some of their favorite foods.
Sure enough, when I returned today, there were Baltimore Orioles and Rose Breasted Grosbeaks making themselves at home in the back garden.
Baltimore Orioles spend the winter in Colombia, Central America, and other areas around the Caribbean. They are not considered to be endangered, but are not normally seen because they spend their time up in the tops of trees. Unless, that is, you put out grape jelly and orange halves, but especially grape jelly. And that is exactly what I did before leaving on Tuesday morning. Once they start feeding in your back garden, I have found that they will stick around until fall.
Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are large finches, related to Cardinals. Like the Orioles, they overwinter in regions near the Caribbean. They are ground feeders who appreciate sunflower or safflower seeds. They like to feed on the ground, so I attract them with a platform feeder. Unfortunately, in my garden they show up in May but don’t stick around for more than two or three weeks. They may show up again on their way south in the autumn.
Have you seen any favorite songbirds return lately?
gardeninacity 
I really like that Grosbeak. I never had one of them in the garden. Beautiful photo too.
Thanks. They do live in New York state during the summer.
I am still not good at setting up bird feeders in my garden but I am inspired by yours. They attracted some pretty, colourful birds.
Thank you. I imagine there must be very colorful birds where you live.
Oh pretty! Yes, about 5 days ago I went out in the evening to close up my cold frame and the sky was full of the first swallows, swirling and calling! A wonderful sight as it means summer is coming! They spend the winter in southern Africa.
To see swallows here you have to go out to the country.
They’re both beautiful birds.
Thank you.
I had two Grosbeaks in my garden in April. Like you, they only stick around for a very short time. I’ve never seen a Oriole in my garden. They are such a wonderful color! Enjoy your migrating birds!
You might try putting out some grape jelly. They migrate through most of Georgia in spring and fall, and stay in the northwest part in summer.
Such pretty birds! I’ve never seen either of these. Wonder what would happen if I put out some grape jelly!
You might see some orioles if you time it right. They do migrate through Texas.
I would so love to be able to identify some of the birds that we see here…but they are further away from the windows…and I can’t always see them well enough. Your little beauties are stunning.
Jen
These days we keep a pair of binoculars on the back porch.
Unless you count catbirds, LOL! They make so much noise and chatter so they are sort of fun if you have a dearth of songbirds, I guess. It has been so cold here I am still waiting for orioles and hummingbirds, but I have heard the bluebirds are supposedly back. I saw a pair of eagles fly over a week ago, they nest here. The male (I assume) was HUGE, although its mate was quite a bit smaller. The larger had a nearly 7′ wing span, the other around 5′.
Eagles are so exciting! And I actually like catbirds, especially their weird call.
I’ve never put out fruit for the birds, I really should try it and see what it attracts. Hopefully, not just a bunch of wasps. Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of pine siskins at my feeder. I loved seeing the pictures in this post and reading about the Orioles.
I have never had pine siskins. I think the wasps are more of a problem after late summer.
I’ve never seen a grosbeak before and I’m smitten. What a picture to see if you had both the grosbeak and male cardinal at rage same time. Would be beautiful?
Yes, it would. I have to keep my eyes open to see if that happens.
Occasionally I get Orioles but it’s been a few years since I’ve seen any. A friend in a nearby town reported that she saw her first Hummingbird. Slowly but surely the birds of summer are returning to roost.
No hummingbirds here yet, looking forward to seeing them.
Lovely pictures! My yard was teeming with Baltimore Orioles today and I posted more pictures at my Backyard Birder blog. I do hope they will stick around for a while.
Here the orioles are pretty good about sticking around until it is time to migrate south.
I don’t think we have those around here, in SE Nebraska. They are sweet looking birds. My husband puts seeds in the feeders, and I encourage him to use mostly safflower seeds so there won’t be as many squirrels, and also so we don’t get a bunch of strange plants coming up. I think he mostly just gets that when I’m with him, though. Whatever it is coming up under the feeders, a rabbit has been munching on it.
Thanks for your words of encouragement about using cultivars of native plants. One thing I need to remember is that the plants I put here are not going to be from close enough to us to be considered truly native. I just need to relax and enjoy the blooms and the critters.
The All About Birds website, which is sponsored by Cornell, says that both birds do spend the summers in eastern Nebraska. Maybe you should try putting out some jelly.
Don’t have squirrels in your yard? How do you protect all these food from them?
I have a tall pole with a squirrel baffle from Wild Birds Unlimited.
What beautiful visitors to your feeders. I haven’t noticed many birds at my usually active feeder since I replaced the black oil sunflower seed with safflower seed. I’d heard that less than welcome guests (rats, mice) don’t like safflower seed; the birds don’t seem too happy about it either.
I’ve fed safflower seed and the birds will eat it, though grackles and starlings don’t like it much, which is a good thing. It just takes them a while to figure out that they want to eat the safflower. They do have bird brains, after all.
Tons of songbirds now, but no orioles, unfortunately. I wonder if could coax them here if I put out some grape jelly. We may be a little too far south for them. Of course, I’d have to prevent the ants and squirrels from getting it first.
If you got the timing right – the All About Birds website says that they do migrate through North Carolina.
Pretty little birds Jason, it’s a nice change from seeing our birds, the colourful ones are pretty hard to capture and aren’t seen on a regular basis, Unless you have a native plant garden with no dogs or cats or noisy miners.
What kind of miners? Like in coal mines?
We had a Grosbeak in our yard VERY briefly last week. I hope he/she comes back. I have had to take down one of my feeders because of the squirrels. They are leaping directly from the ground up to the top of the feeder and hanging upside down to gorge. And this is with a large baffler in place. They don’t seem interested in the finch feeder, perhaps the holes are so small that they feel it’s not worth it; although I have seen them sitting and looking at the feeder like they’re trying to figure it out. They have also taken a liking to my furniture, chewing holes in the seating. Also are uprooting just about everything new that I put in the ground. Tipping over pots: hooligans!
Rats with bushy tails, I say. Hanging is too good for them.
You have such colourful and exotic birds, they make ours look drab in comparison. However, despite appearances it’s their personalities that provide the entertainment. Robins are friendly and inquisitive. House sparrows are daring and playful. Wagtails are shy and secretly dart around. Wood pigeons are just a bit stupid and clumsy.
Thanks for sharing your picture of the Rose Grosbeak. They made a brief stop (couple days) at the feeder to refuel for the flight north. I plan to put out an oriole feeder in hopes of attracting one or two. We are suppose to have the orchard oriole here. Our hummers (Ruby-throated) are back so spring is officially here. We have a few bald eagles in the area. They hang out along the river. There is a nesting pair that decided the best place to raise their kids was at Shiloh National battlefield park in Savannah, TN.
Really like your site!!