Tuesday, April 26, 2011

O is for ...

ORANGE ORIOLES


Most people think of Orioles as being orange in color, mostly because they think of the Baltimore Oriole, which is more well know known and is usually orange.
However our orioles , which are usually the Hooded and Bullock's Oriole, are nearly always yellow -- except for this one,




which is a Hooded Oriole and was definitely orange when he visited us a couple of weeks ago.

This year we are happy to have a new Orange colored bird who is visiting us frequently because he likes the grape jelly we put out.  He is the Black - headed Grosbeak, not to be confused with the Rose-breasted Grosbeak which is not a western bird.






He is quite spectacular  in comparison with other birds, not counting the oriole and the yellow warbler, because his orange under parts  are quite orange, not as my bird book says, 'buff', and his black head and black wings which have clear white bars, stand out against all the other birds which are usually smaller and not so colorful.  Of course the out standing part of the Grosbeak is his gross beak!  Very large, as you can see from these photos.


Be sure to visit ABC WEDNESDAY to see other contributions for O Day.

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 It will probably be a week before I post again as we are going up to Boise to see our youngest son.  We must love him very much since we are exchanging our beautiful 78 degree weather for  56 and rain!!

19 comments:

Wanda said...

If that isn't love.....

Your back yard birds are so lovely. We are trying to attract some new ones with different bird feed.

We have had a few finches and a couple canaries. Love sitting in the back yard watching them feed a take their baths in the water dish.

Roger Owen Green said...

beautiful birds. my daughter just painted the birdhouse.
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

photowannabe said...

Have a wonderful trip and enjoy the family time. I hope the weather will improve for you too.
Beautiful birds and well captured.

Meryl said...

BEautiful bird is right! I live in the city and we just don't get to see them :-( We do have hawks and pigeons though.

Werna Gail said...

There is a bird bath outside my kitchen window and each day I can watch as the different birds line up and take turns, a real blessing. These bird photos are really good. Hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Tumblewords: said...

Colorful and cheerful birds. Have a great trip - I'm about 8 hours north of your son and had snow all last week. Maybe you'll bring spring to this area!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Oh so beautiful!

A Splash of Orange made my ABC this week, come and see. Thank you!

Hildred said...

Lovely birds, - I have jelly out, hoping to entice orioles who frequent our trees only occasionally, - perhaps the Grosbeaks will come too.

Rinkly Rimes said...

What beautifully coloured birds! And the gross beak doesn't look at all gross!

Autumn Leaves said...

Have a great trip and thank you for the lesson on orioles and grosbeaks. I don't know too many of the bird species and am always interested in learning more!

Jane and Chris said...

What a beautiful bird! Our birds are just returning for the summer. The sound of birdsong everyday is wondeful!
Enjoy your trip..and pack a cardi!!
Jane x

jabblog said...

Beautiful birds, especially the oriole. Stunning!
Have a lovely time with your son - maybe the sun will shine for you:-)

Rarelesserspotted said...

Lovely pictures - the oriole is a spectacular little thing... Thanks for sharing xx

Joy said...

You have some lovely birds calling in at your table, it is obviously a gourmet treat.

MorningAJ said...

Interesting, because I've always known them as golden orioles so I've assumed they're always yellow! Gorgeous birds that I've only ever seen in photos. I'm jealous that you have such jewels in your garden.

snafu said...

You are lucky with the range of birds you get visiting, our birds are mostly rather drab compared to Californian birds.
Have a good trip, maybe the weather will get better when you are there.

Beverley Baird said...

Great shots of the oriole!
We haven't been able to have a bird feeder - as our cat would feast on the birds I am sure.

claude said...

Bith beautiful birds, Chris !
I saw a new one in my gardenonce more but till now I did not have any success to shot him.

Anonymous said...

These are both very nice birds.