Wildlife Spotting

Thanks florida33girl, it's on my wish list now!

Sean, agreed! ;o) After I replied to you I clicked thru and looked at your spottings. Gorgeous pictures!

Sean, thanks for the compliment! (Great name! :o)

Heather, the bird on the right in the 5th picture is a Scott's Oriole. They migrate through here in the spring. My oriole feeders are pretty crowded in the spring. A couple of years ago I counted 90 Bullock's and Scott's at one time. My trees all looked like orange trees. It was wonderful and kind of horrible at the same time. There were 9-10 orioles lined up at every feeder all the time. At the time I think I only had 6 oriole feeders. So many hungry birds! That's when I started putting out orange halves and grape jelly for them. The ongoing drought here is really hard on the critters.

Birdlady6000, thank you!

floridagirl33, I guess I'm going to have to get a Sibley Guide! The one I have has only a couple of photos and very basic information. Thanks so much for your feedback!

Thank you, Sa C.! :o)

florida33girl, I was just reading again through the allaboutbirds descriptions (love that site!) about the tail feathers. Pic 5 (above) shows the bird's tail feathers clearly. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bullocks_Oriole/id Bullock's says, "Middle tail feather black, the rest yellow, tipped with dusky or black." http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Baltimore_Oriole/id Baltimore says, "Black tail tipped with orange." This bird doesn't seem to match either of these descriptions exactly.

I found 2 other pics so far. #4 shows Bullock's on the left, the bird in question on the right. #5 shows the bird in question on the left and a Scott's Oriole on the right. Thank you for your comments! I really appreciate the input!

If you look at the 3rd picture, the bird in question has black shading on its cheeks, a significantly wider eye stripe, and an orange V above the white wing bars. I get many Bullock's Orioles per season and I've never seen one that looks like this. Maybe a sport? I'll try to find and post other pics that show this bird with Bullock's for comparison.