For the past couple of days there has been a new visitor high up in the maple trees in our yard. It appears to be eating insects or the buds from the maple tree. It is too far away to get a good look and of course I can’t find the binoculars anywhere but I can tell that he/she is bright orange underneath possibly with a black or dark head. I looked up the Baltimore Oriole but the songs that I have found on the web do not match the 4-6 note song of our visitor.
I tried recording the song and have placed an mp3 and wav file below. If any of you are bird gurus please take a listen and see if you can identify the mystery bird. I apologize for the extra noise in the recording. I was using my mp3 player to do the recording and it picked up pretty much everything.
4 responses so far ↓
1 MB. Wulf // May 16, 2007 at 11:31 am
I’ve listened to your WAV file and I do think you’ve got a Baltimore Oriole. Late-returning in spring? Kinda shy, stays under the leaves so you only ever get a brief glimpse?
The song you recorded seems to be only part of the song, or one of its variants. The fully developed song ends in a strong, decisive run of three whistles, all the same note, one-two-three.
As far back as when I was a kid living in Michigan, my mother and I were seeing this bird and hearing a song that wasn’t represented on any of the bird call recordings. This was back in the 70s and I was surprised to find that no one yet seems to have recorded or posted the song I’ve come to associate with this bird! Maybe I’ll have to borrow a portable MP3 recorder and do it–I have this bird where I am in Massachusetts now, too.
2 kerry // May 16, 2007 at 7:50 pm
MB. Thanks for the song info. I posted a thread over at davesgarden.com and the general consensus is the B.O. I noticed that there is a pair that flies together between my trees and those of my neighbors. I have never noticed them in years past but it could just be that I missed them for what ever reason. They are beautiful birds aren’t they?
3 Jayne // Jun 2, 2007 at 10:12 pm
If you would like a closer look at your orioles, and you are into feeding the birds, put out a small dish of grape jelly….they love it. They also will eat (drink) from a hummingbird feeder
4 kerry // Jun 6, 2007 at 6:55 am
Jayne,
Thanks for the tip. I do have a bird feeder up and there is room for a platform on it. I will try your suggestion.
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