Best Oriole bird feeders

Look for a high quality all-in-one feeder

Attracting Orioles to your backyard starts with giving these colourful birds a proper feeder that provides them with a variety of their favourite foods, including oranges, grape jelly and, of course, sugar water or nectar.

The best feeders provide areas for all three food sources, but there may be reasons to provide feeders that focus on one or two of the food sources at different times of the year.

Oriole feeder with spikes to hold oranges and built-in containers for jelly as well as the reservoir for the home made nectar.

In our yard, I use a number of different feeders – ranging from a simple nectar feeder similar to a hummingbird feeder, to DIY Jelly feeders and orange-half holders, to commercially bought Oriole feeders that hold nectar and a half orange to one that holds all three.

If you are buying a new feeder, I would probably aim for a feeder that holds all three – nectar, oranges and grape jelly.

However, this page of Oriole feeders from Amazon is a clear indication of how many styles of feeders are available.

These oriole feeders from Etsy show how many varieties are available and how easy some styles are to create as a DIY project.

These Oriole feeders from Maine-based Gardener’s supply are good choices as are these high quality Oriole feeders from the Canadian and American based Wild Birds Unlimited.

Close-up details of the Oriole feeder complete with spikes to hold orange halves and built-in containers for grape jelly. This includes a dome to help keep squirrels away and the jelly from getting wet and spilling all over the feeder in a rain storm.

Where to locate oriole feeders

However, a feeder that provides all three of these foods might not necessarily prove to be very successful at attracting or encouraging the birds to return to the yard. Where the feeder is located in the yard, and how accessible it is to the birds can play an important role in the success of attracting orioles and keeping them coming back to your yard.

When you first put up the feeder, make sure that birds flying over head can see it. Tucking it away in a tree might seem like a great idea, but many of the migrating orioles will likely miss it and fly on by.

Hanging the feeder from a hook out in plain site is a good idea. You can hang it on your main bird feeding station, but Orioles generally prefer a quieter area, so finding a spot away from the busiest area of the garden is preferred.

More on attracting Orioles to your yard, on my earlier comprehensive post.

A group of five Baltimore Orioles feed on orange halves, nectar and jelly inside DIY containers at our busy bird feeding station. Notice the Oriole nectar feeder hanging off the steel branch feeder arm that is also ideal for stuffing orange halves into the stylized leaves. For more on the feeder arm go here.

Once the birds find the feeder(s) however, I have found that they feel comfortable feeding with other birds around them. At this point, I might put up a feeder or start feeding oranges on my main feeding station in addition to the original feeder location.

I have had as many as 12 Orioles see image above) on our main feeding station working oranges, and grape jelly among the seed-eating birds like Blue Jays and Cardinals. The stylized steel branch is the perfect spot to hang additional feeders and the wire leaves is a perfect spot to stuff orange halves into for the Orioles.

Keeping them around and where do Orioles nest?

Orioles can be a little picky when it comes to setting up their summer homes. Remember, these are nest-dwelling birds that do not use bird houses or tree cavities. They create hanging nests fairly high in trees where they are safe from most predators. We had a pair nesting in a mature maple in our front yard one year. If you do not have tall trees nearby, you might have some difficulties keeping the birds around all summer.

Attracting orioles to your backyard starts with using oranges to entice migrating orioles to your yard and then keeping them there with grape jelly, nectar and finally lots of insects for the Orioles to feed their young.

Insects are key to keeping Orioles all summer

It’s also important to remember that orioles are primarily insect-eating birds. They are attracted to your yard with the oranges and grape jelly as a quick energy hit after a long migration, but will only stick around if there is an abundance of insects to feed their young.

With that in mind, you might also want to set out a dish of meal worms near their feeder to attract them and keep them around longer.

Your best chance to attract Orioles is spring migration

But that’s not to say that you can’t attract them to your yard during spring migration with orange halves, nectar and jelly.

If the feeding stations fail to provide the Orioles with what they need, they will often simply stop off for a quick meal and move on. And that’s okay too. Having these bright colourful birds around for just a few days in spring is still a joy.

That stay could just be for a few minutes to an afternoon or even a couple of days, but many of the birds will eventually move on.

If they do move on, don’t take it personally. It may not mean your feeding setup was not to their liking, but that their nesting site is traditionally farther north in their annual migration.

The key is to make your yard so enticing, that first-time nesting pairs and others choose your yard to set up their homes.

A male and female oriole work the orange halve and nectar at the commercial feeder.

Oranges are your first line of enticement

In my years of attracting Baltimore Orioles to our garden, I have found that oranges are the best first impression to provide the birds to encourage them to your yard. After spending the winter in Florida and other warm climates where oranges are common food sources, it’s understandable why Orioles would recognize the orange halves at our feeders.

My first feeder did not come with a specific holder for an orange half. Instead, I simply insert the orange half over the steel rod that the feeder hangs from. This allows the Orioles to grip the rod and feed at the same time. Changing the orange halves to keep a fresh supply is easily done.

Many of the new feeders have spikes where the orange halves can be positioned. If you are buying a new feeder, make sure it has a location to display either orange halves, or orange quarters.

Don’t forget to stock up on grape jelly

If oranges are what attracts the Orioles to your yard, it’s grape jelly that keeps them coming back.

Our Orioles just love their grape jelly mixed with a little water. Our newest feeder even has three small reservoirs that are perfect locations to add a spoonful of grape jelly.

In the past, I created my own DIY grape jelly containers out of orange plastic caps from a food container that I hung near the main nectar feeders.

I soon realized, however, that the spent orange halves were also good containers to fill with grape jelly once the Orioles had finished with the oranges. The pulp in the oranges however, does absorb the jelly water making the halves short lived as an ideal feeder.

A small glass dish filled with grape jelly mixed in a little water is a favourite for our Orioles and it is easy to clean an refill on a daily basis.

One of our resident chipmunks took a liking to the nectar in the Oriole feeder this past summer.

Nectar is good for a burst of high-energy

One of the first feeders I purchased was a nectar feeder that looked like an orange-coloured hummingbird feeder. It has never performed that well for us in attracting Orioles, but one of our resident chipmunks sure took a liking to it last year. Everyday, the chipmunk would come and get its hit of sugar water from the feeder.

It enjoyed the nectar so much that it wouldn’t stop drinking no matter how close I got to it to get a picture.

Oriole nectar should be mixed the same as hummingbird nectar. Do not buy the store-bought nectar packages with the orange food colouring. Just mix 1 part sugar with 4 parts of water to create the nectar. I like to boil the water before using it to clear out any impurities in the water. I also find it stays clear longer if it is boiled.

There are lots of high quality Oriole nectar feeders that are available. This plastic feeder from Home Hardware is an excellent choice. Don’t be surprised if it also attracts hummingbirds.

Best Oriole feeder conclusion

There are so many high quality Oriole feeders available today that it is difficult to recommend one brand or style. In fact, if you are like me you probably have Orioles visiting your hummingbird feeders more than your actual Oriole nectar feeders. I believe that this is because the Orioles are more accustomed to seeing the red hummingbird feeders and know there is a treat waiting for them inside.

The fact that Orioles are attracted to our DIY feeders as they are the commercial varieties also says a lot about how picky they are or are not when it comes to their favourite food.

But providing them with oranges, jelly and nectar in one convenient spot is your best chance at making a first impression with these wonderful birds. If a combination feeder can get their attention, you can use more dedicated style feeders to keep them coming back.

There are feeders that take an entire jar of grape jelly that some have reported are excellent magnets for the orioles. I can’t help but think these also attract their share of bees and wasps to the sugary jelly. They may even get moldy if the jelly is not eaten quickly enough.

I have also seen beautiful handmade Oriole feeders available on Etsy that would make a lovely addition to your garden. Most of these are excellent secondary feeders that could be added once you have success attracting and keeping the orioles around all summer.

One last thing to remember, Orioles enjoy a dependable source of water as well. Don’t forget to ensure water is available.

One of my favourite series of images I was able to capture was a female Oriole bringing her entire brood of babies down to our on-ground bird bath for most likely their first bath. That was a frenzy of excitement for both the birds and the photographer (image above) and a reminder of why it’s worth the effort to attract these beautiful birds to your yard.

How to attract Orioles with oranges, jelly and insects

Go natural: Provide insects and berries for Orioles

I’m sitting in my home office in the middle of May with a light dusting of snow on the ground watching Baltimore Orioles working one of the orange halves I left out on the feeder for them

Last year, I remember as many as seven swarming the feeder. They were feasting on oranges and nectar from a commercial feeder that I had put out for them to catch their attention as they migrated back to their more northern summer breeding grounds here in Canada, from winters in Mexico, Central and South America.

If you want to attract Orioles and keep them around year round, you’ll have to make sure your Woodland provides them with everything they need so they decide to call it home. That includes an upper tree canopy where they often build their nests.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

Orioles live in open woodlands particularly those with deciduous trees and lots of insects.

Oranges will go a long way to entice Orioles to visit your yard in spring, but grape jelly, nectar (in the same 4 to 1 ratio of water and sugar used to attract hummingbirds) provided in commercial feeders and berries in your garden from native trees and shrubs will help to convince the birds to stay around all summer. Don’t forget to provide an abundance of insects, including meal worms, which is the main food of Orioles when feeding their nestlings and throughout the remainder of the summer.

A male oriole works an orange half on the top of an Oriole feeder filled with the same sugar water mixture used for hummingbird feeders.

Here in Southern Ontario and Eastern United States we are limited to the Baltimore and orchard orioles. There are actually nine orioles throughout the United States, but only five are common.

The Bullock’s is found throughout Western Canada and the United States.

Once you’ve got them, and providing you give them the requirements they need, they often return year after year to raise their young.

More on what are the best Oriole feeders here.

Spring migration troubles 2021

Of Note: In the spring of 2021 many homeowners who normally have had Baltimore Orioles in their gardens are reporting that the birds either did not show up or appeared for only a day or two and moved on never to be seen again. I usually have a large number of orioles in the garden throughout the summer raising their young. This year, although a few passed through, none stayed around for more than a day or two. I have seen similar reports of decreases in Baltimore Oriole numbers throughout southern Ontario into northeastern U.S.

There appears to be no obvious reason for this concerning turn of events. A late cold spell that ripped through the Great Lakes area right around migration time brought freezing temperatures, including heavy snow, which may have resulted in fewer birds surviving migration or more birds choosing to nest further south. I will try to update this page if there is any more news on the plight of the Orioles.

A young Oriole enjoys a bath in one of our on-ground water sources that happens to be a concrete antler belonging to our concrete moose named Bruce (as in Springsteen) the moose.

It wasn’t too long ago when our Woodland garden was completely devoid of Orioles. Not that they weren’t around. People regularly talked about seeing them in the Conservation area surrounding us. I just never saw them in my garden.

Then I got serious about enticing these beautifully coloured birds into our garden.

Oriole nests are elaborate sac-shaped works of art

Now, they are not only here regularly in the spring and throughout the summer, a pair have even nested in a large maple at the front of our property. I don’t always find their nests, but I often see the young birds with their parents.

Orioles can take up to 12 days to build their elaborate, pendulous sac-shaped nests on the ends of branches in tall trees often in more open areas. Their nests are unique when it comes to North American birds’ nests.

In spring, the female oriole build’s her nest with thin, intertwined fibers that form what might seem like a delicate pouch but, in fact, can hold up to seven eggs.

By putting out oranges early in spring, we can attract orioles to our yards. Once we have them coming to our yards we can add grape jelly to keep them coming back.

For more information on how orioles build their nest check out audubon’s highly informative article on their site here.

Last year, a mother brought her entire brood to our on-ground water source where they had a great time splashing around in the ears of our concrete moose.

All it took to get them here originally was a couple of oranges cut in half and placed in areas where the Orioles are likely to see them. Now our neighbours have joined in to the excitement and put orange slices around their yard as well.

Once you have them, it’s time to add grape jelly to your yard. It has to be basic grape jelly, not a jam. You can buy special oriole jelly in plastic bottles at many good bird stores, but just buy a good grape jelly. I like to use Welch’s grape jelly, but any no-name jellies should be fine. Mix it with a little water and the Orioles will lap it up often choosing the jelly over the orange halves.

Orioles are attracted to the colour orange, so many of today’s feeders use the colour to catch the bird’s attention.

One trick that I like to use is after the orioles are finished with the orange half, I fill it with jelly. They seem to appreciate my effort. It’s a constant exchange of old oranges with new ones, and filling the spent oranges with grape jelly.

Five cool facts about orioles

• Orioles are in the same family as blackbirds and meadowlarks and are most often seen perched at the tops of trees or flitting through the upper foliage looking for insects.

• Their chatter is quite distinctive as is their call. Once you have heard it, you are unlikely to forget it.

• Watch your peas. Orioles enjoy fresh or frozen or dried peas

• Orioles live up to 11 years in the wild and longer in captivity.

• Female orioles become a deeper orange every time they molt. Older females can be almost as bright as their male counterparts

• Orioles got their names from the black and orange of Lord Baltimore’s family crest, which is similar to the family’s crest

• the Baltimore oriole is Maryland’s state bird

• Orioles have distinct alarm calls to warn of predators, but will not hesitate to mob and harass predators that threaten or come near nests.

Oriole feeders have come a long way

Many modern feeders will provide areas to mount oranges as well as cavities to put the jelly into. Some feeders also offer the Orioles several choices, including jelly, orange halves and nectar.

Some, such as the Birds Choice Flower Oriole Bird Feeder include a reservoir to hold grape jelly as well as places to mount orange halves. Look for feeders that also provide perches for several of the birds to comfortably and safely perch while they are eating. It’s not uncommon to have several at your feeders at once.

The nectar that is used for orioles is the same as the nectar used for hummingbirds. It should be made the same way – 4 parts of water to one part of sugar.

I like to boil my water first and then measure out the 4:1 ratio. The boiling water helps to dissolve the sugar more perfectly and seems to keep my feeders’ nectar clear longer. Remember to let it cool to room temperature before filling your nectar feeders.

Don’t be surprised if the orioles start to feed from your hummingbird feeders. They are a regular at my feeders, even when they struggle to fit on them properly.

In saying that, however, it’s not uncommon for our hummingbirds to drink from the oriole feeder.

Orioles love moving water

Don’t underestimate the value of moving water. Although orioles get much of their water needs filled by nectar from our feeders and plants, water still plays an important part in attracting these beautiful birds. They are especially attracted to the sight and sound of moving water, whether it’s a fountain, a dripper or a bubbler. I wrote a full article about converting a dripper into a solar fountain. You can read it here.

Five of a total of seven Orioles pictured here taking advantage of our various feeders that included orange halves, home-made jelly feeders and a nectar feeder.

In summer meal worms are an excellent choice for Orioles

Finally, once you have attracted the Orioles, you will need to be prepared to change their diet as summer approaches. You may notice them using your orange and jelly feeders less and less. That’s when to start shifting what you are feeding them from oranges and jelly to meal worms, either live ones (which are ideal) or dried ones. It’s a good idea to rehydrate the dried meal worms with some water before putting them out in your feeders. Or, put them in a dish and add a little water to rehydrate them. This makes it easier for the birds to swallow them.

Both types are available at bird-feeding stores or through Amazon. Feeding meal worms will not only attract Orioles to your garden. They are the prime source of food for Bluebirds at a feeder as well as robins and other insect eating birds.

Special meal worm feeders are also available. Because squirrels are not interested in meal worms, these feeders can hang anywhere in the garden including from nearby tree branches.

The Baltimore Oriole spends its winters in florida and farther south in Central America. They migrate north to breed throughout the northeast United States and into southern parts of Canada.

Insects are the birds’ primary food source in summer

Although they are attracted to Oranges and jellies on their migration routes, their real food is a variety of insects.

The Orioles that visit our gardens are using the oranges and jelly as a quick burst of energy. By the summer, when they are raising their young, they spend much of their time foraging for insects to feed their babies. The parents will still come to the feeders for quick bursts of energy, but they may also almost disappear if they are not nesting nearby.

Besides mealworms, Orioles will also eat wasps and other insects. It is vital to avoid using pesticides in the garden to ensure a large supply of insects for these birds. During the summer, when orioles are feeding their young, insects may provide up to 90 per cent of an oriole’s diet.

Native shrubs and bushes that produce an abundance of berries are excellent food sources for these birds. Consider planting elderberries, blueberries, blackberries, serviceberries and raspberries just to name a few. I have written an entire article about the importance of serviceberries in our wildlife gardens. You can read it here.

Although oranges are their favourite fruit, they will also eat apple, peaches, bananas and berries.

Providing them with special suet mixes that include fruit pieces and berries is a good source of high energy for them.

Plant bright, but dark-coloured fruits such as mulberries, cherries and purple grapes as well as raspberries. They also like flowers that produce high quantities of nectar including vines such as trumpet vines.

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Toronto couple team up to save oriole the “snow bird”

Young Baltimore Oriole survives Canadian winter with a little help from her friends

Toronto’s little orphan oriole has made it through a brutal Canadian winter thanks to her adoptive parents Stella and Gord.

It took lots of love, caring and work but Violet – the name the couple have given their little “snow bird” – not only survived winter, but seems to have come out the other end in good health. After all, the young Baltimore Oriole dined on an assortment of Stella’s finest, homemade “almond bites” in her fully heated, big-city Pied-a-Terre where the couple worked vigilantly to provide everything the oriole needed to survive the frigid Toronto temperatures.

The specialized, homemade roosting box included a heated floor to help the oriole escape the most frigid temperatures, and even a small, heated birdbath that she used more as a source of water than a place to bathe.

The female Baltimore Oriole, who chose to remain in her favourite Canadian city throughout the winter, probably owes her life to the Toronto couple – both Toronto university professors – who noticed the oriole hanging around late last fall and realized that it was not going to fly south with its family for the winter. That’s when they stepped in to ensure the bird was not going to succumb to a Toronto winter.

Violet, the little Oriole who survived a difficult Canadian winter with the help of two Toronto professors who went to great lengths to help the little Oriole survive.

Several biologists and birder friends suggested that the Oriole was probably born in the summer of 2020. The couple are now hoping that the young bird continues to fly solo until the other Orioles return in the spring so she can reconnect with her own.

"Maybe she'll even have a family,” Stella told Toronto Blog earlier this winter when they were trying to find ways to help the Oriole. “We realize she may not stick around our ‘hood’ once the warmer weather arrives. This is par for the course. We have not done anything to encourage her to let her guard down around humans; we keep a distance. She needs to be her natural Oriole self, with a good healthy caution around people, their cats, and other mammals,” explained Stella.

Her adventure began in late fall after a summer of feeding the birds in her Toronto west backyard, including groups of local orioles. That’s when she noticed something unusual.

“I started putting suet out in November and one day around November 15 I happened to notice this young little female clinging to the suet cage, and I knew it was likely she wouldn’t migrate. After that I started keeping an eye out for her, and the little food experiments started,” Stella explained to Ferns and Feathers in an email communication.

For more on Orioles, check out my posts on attracting orioles with oranges and jelly and the best oriole feeders.

“There were several female Baltimore Orioles in New York state that were documented all winter, and a couple of males in that same state which were not regularly documented/updated.”

— Stella Bastone

Earlier this winter, Stella told Toronto Blog that her husband Gord “is super handy with wood, and we spent days sketching out designs for several feeders that would discourage Starlings and House Sparrows and still allow other species to feed.” She explains that after “some trial and error, lots of observing and moving things around, (Violet) started frequenting a certain feeder that was free of the invasive mobs.”

But Stella and Gord didn’t stop there. Drawing on their educational backgrounds, the couple set up a camera to keep a close eye on Violet while she was inside the roosting box and use that information to focus in on her favourite foods and how they could keep her safe from the more aggressive birds.

“We have set up a Blink security camera system, and we put a few cameras around the Oriole’s platform," she explained in an email to Ferns and Feathers.

“It has a motion sensor feature, so whenever she visits (or when other birds/squirrels visit), I get a notification on my phone,” Stella explains.

Violet enters her custom roosting box complete with heated floor and assortment of food. Video provided by Stella Bastone.

“The system records up to 30 seconds of footage at a time. This has been instrumental in helping me come up with tweaks to the feeding stations and foods for her! Every time I make a little change, I watch the short footage clips carefully to gauge whether I should make more adjustments. (For example, I make what I call “almond bites” for her – consisting of a base of ground almonds and pure lard – and there are a variety of natural additives. With careful observation and some research I’ve come up with 4 “flavours” that she likes. One set is “Red” – with powdered strawberry and raspberry. One is “Green” – with powdered hemp hearts, ground pumpkin seeds. One is “Orange” – powdered orange, chopped dried apricot. One is “Purple” – chopped dried blueberries, powdered berries. I can also see what she eats first, what’s her least favourite, how she’s able to eat foods of various densities and sizes, etc.”

Online community also lends a hand

Stella and Gord were never alone in their quest to help the oriole. The very active online birding community followed along with Violet’s journey and the couple were able to hook up with others in Canada and the United States who were caring for their own orioles that chose not to fly south to Mexico and Central America for the winter.

“There were several female Baltimore Orioles in New York state that were documented all winter, and a couple of males in that same state which were not regularly documented/updated,” explained Stella.

“There is a male Baltimore Oriole who has survived all winter in Haliburton Ontario, and is still doing well. And at least several others in states south of NY. On a less positive note, there was a very well-document female Baltimore Oriole north of Barrie who disappeared in January, as did a Summer Tanager who was wintering near there,” she added.

“A wonderful woman named Marlene was the one looking after the female near Barrie, Ontario. She and I connected regularly to compare notes. Like the others helping out wintering Orioles, she was offering grape jelly and oranges (neither of which my local Oriole cared for), and she also mentioned she was offering live mealworms – that’s where I got the live mealworm idea,” explains Stella.

Video of Violet getting a drink in a heated bird bath during a snowstorm. Video provided by Stella Bastone.

The live meal worms which she was able to get from a local branch of Wild Birds Unlimited proved to be a favourite for Violet providing much-needed protein to keep the bird’s fat content high.

Earlier this winter, Stella told Toronto blog that strangers have been “so eager to reach out to us: ‘thank you for being good humans’, they say. We are amazed. In recent weeks I’ve connected with several others who are also caring for wintering Orioles, or even Tanagers, in Canada and northern States. We are sharing our observations and notes on our efforts.” she says.

Drawing on their education background, the couple designed learning exercises for Violet. The goal was to teach the bird to use the shelter for quick food pickups. Violet seemed eager to learn, not only finding the shelter quickly but learning to quickly fly in and out of the shelter for quick bites.

Oriole proves to be a quick learner

Other, more aggressive, non-native birds discovered the roosting box and more action was necessary to ensure Violet’s survival.

Stella explains that just recently they have had to “set up a few additional feeding spaces since there were all kinds of “breaches” happening in her shelter – squirrels and Starlings started entering.”

“Since I anticipated something like this, I had already started leaving orange ribbons next the feeder bowls inside the shelter, so that our smart little Oriole would associate her food with the orange ribbon and be drawn to orange ribbons elsewhere. So, after the breaches, I set up another semi-enclosed area nearby, with the food bowls mostly out of sight, but with orange ribbon visible, and sure enough the Oriole discovered it right away. Then I did this again with a third little feeder enclosure slightly farther away, and she discovered that quickly too. Eventually I will have to dismantle her raised platform (which is up against our dining room window) so I am glad she knows about the third enclosed area – this will soon have tall ferns growing all around and concealing it, but with any luck the Oriole will continue to flourish and will know to go to that feeder for her mealworms and almond bites. Of course we’re also bracing for the possibility she will stop returning to our yard someday!”

As spring settles in around her Toronto neighbourhood, Stella awaits the return of the Orioles and other birds that she has been feeding in her approximately 40X75-foot backyard.

She explains her yard is larger than a typical Toronto yard “especially the newer ones “where developers are making huge houses with very little green space, after applying for exemptions to the rules – absolutely tragic. Many of our neighbours have similar sized back yards (except for the ones in newly-built developer houses), and since this was historically a European neighbourhood, there are very many fruit trees around here,” she explains.

“I have planted several native berry shrubs: serviceberry, winterberry, chokeberry, dogwoods. I also planted a few very narrow “nativars” called Weeping White Spruce and Louie White Pine, which are better suited for our urban space than the species evergreens.”

Her commitment to native plants may help to explain her success in attracting birds to her big-city garden.

“I started seriously getting into bird feeding maybe 5 years ago. (Before that I just sprinkled seed on the ground now and then.) I have maybe 25 feeders now, but they’re never all out at once. It depends on the time of year, the types of birds that are around,” Stella explains.

“Since my aim is to support local native species whose resources are dwindling, I really don’t want to encourage larger populations of non-native species like House Sparrows and Starlings, so I try to exclude them. There’s not really a 100% effective way to exclude them while feeding all local species, but I have found some partial solutions. For example, I have quite a few caged feeders – these keep Starlings out, and to discourage House Sparrows from those same feeders, I attach thin wire filaments which seem to spook House Sparrows for reasons that are not well understood. I also have almost all of the feeders in the Brome Squirrel Buster line of feeders, which are 100% effective at keeping squirrels at bay. I use a hopper feeder for whole peanuts, which draws Blue Jays all winter (and all of the blackbirds starting in spring). On my tube feeders, I have a "Magic Halo" dangling overhead to discourage House Sparrows. Click here for link to magic halo website.

With the Orioles preparing to invade her Toronto area neighbourhood again this spring, she says she will be ready with her Orange halves and grape jelly to welcome them back to town.

Across Ontario, and northern United States birders will be anxiously awaiting their return along with other migrants, including hummingbirds and warblers, many who decide to make our yards their home for the summer.

Some, like many of the warblers, will continue their journey farther north where insects and other reliable food sources may be more abundant.

In Toronto, Stella and Gord will be watching their little Violet with great anticipation that her long winter will end in a reunion with her family and friends and maybe even lead to her whole family. In fact, their latest Youtube video shows Violet is busy collecting material to build weave her intricate nest.

While we struggled in our own ways over the winter to survive a difficult, sometimes lonely pandemic period, we can all appreciate the struggle Violet endured trying to survive a cold winter without her family and friends by her side.

She did have Stella and Gord – two of the best friends a bird could hope for – watching over her and ensuring that she survived to sing another day.

Why birds choose not to migrate

It’s commonly believed that birds migrate because of the cold temperatures in fall and winter, but, in fact, birds are more driven to migrate in search of food. Birds that depend on insects and berries must move south as cold temperatures either kill off insects or force them into hiding under fallen leaves and in tiny crevices where they wait out the winter in relative safety from the cold and birds.

Many birds, including Orioles, travel as far south as parts of Central or South America in search of an abundance of both insects and fruit, while some cut their journey short and decide to remain in Mexico or the southern United States.

(If you are interested in the migration and annual cycle of the Baltimore and Bullock’s Orioles, Check out this comprehensive, month by month breakdown.)

Young birds, like Violet, injured birds or sick and malnourished birds often decide not to make the long journey south and, instead, try to survive the winter on their own. Many eventually begin to depend on the food we provide in our feeders to get them through the winter. Bug-filled suet cakes, meal worms and fruit are excellent sources of food for these birds and are often a key ingredient to get them through the most difficult of times.

Specialty bird feeding stores like Wild Birds Unlimited are good sources for these products or you can be like Stella and make your own to help them through the winter.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer.