On Saturday morning, I saw the pair of ORCHARD ORIOLES again in the same lone creekside willow where I reported them on Thursday, just upstream from the boathouse in Stewart Park. Gary Kohlenberg and I saw these orioles in this very tree also on Friday afternoon. The subadult male is not too hard to locate because of his rambling song (faster and longer than a Baltimore Oriole’s, sometimes but not always with a burry note in the middle or at the end), but he can be hard to see in the foliage. The female is even easier to miss, but I’ve seen her all three days in the branches hanging right over the creek. (This is Fall Creek, not Cascadilla Creek as I wrote on Thursday. Sorry if I confused anyone.)
So breeding seems quite possible in this tree or the immediate vicinity. But despite some close attention for half an hour this morning, I didn’t find a nest, nor see anyone carrying food or nest material. Here is today’s checklist with some photos. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37639107 (There is a half-marathon passing right through Stewart Park, indeed right by the oriole tree, through 11:30 on Saturday morning. The race caused me only very minor inconvenience in terms of driving, and essentially none in terms of watching birds.) Mark Chao -- 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/ --