I wonder if anyone can comment on the usual description of oriole nesting as "only the female weaves the nest". I have a youngish adult male (slightly graded color in his breast, a bit of edging on back feathers, but pretty brilliant overall) at my house near Freeville. He has been defending territory for weeks. No female seen hanging with him, although I thought I saw one or two fly through earlier. But starting 2 weeks ago, the male was landing in one particular spot and I soon realized he was carrying material in his bill...short tree flower stems mostly, I thought. And slowly a nest has emerged. It is n't very pendulous, being more tucked into a spot with fine branches. It looks typically woven from the side I can see.
So--I think he built it himself. If I am wrong, he started it and a female finished it and is always inside! Does anyone know of males building in the absence of females? The only other oriole using the tree is an even younger, but definite male. They chatter at each other, and the younger one has tried a few song fragments. The original male drives him off sort of, but they also associate more peacefully. The second is showing no signs of interest in the nest site. I have seen associations between young and mature male redwinged blackbirds on the mature male's territory, an uneasy relationship, but the mature male seemingly not wasting time continually driving the other off. This is how I would characterize these two. So--comments? I have pictures of males, nest including, I think, as he was beginning to make it. Anne -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
