Date: 05/01/2019

Number: 1

My grey rainy day was brightened by four males, two of them first year. The apricot tree outside my kitchen window is in the tail end of it's blossom but there are enough blossoms to keep these four guys busy. Already had my nectar ready to go in the fridge so I quickly gave their feeder a sterilise with boiling water and filled it. By the time I got back inside and back to the kitchen window there were already two of them fighting over it. They rewarded me with some beautiful whistles. It has been raining the past number of days. Yesterday was cold rain but today was much warmer; the high got to 20°C. First thunderstorms of 2019 overnight as the temperature warmed. They must have come in on the warm breezes. I first discovered Orioles in this tree quite a number of years ago. Some years they come in time for the blossoms and other years they miss them. Their numbers have grown steadily every year. Many just pass through but we always end up with at least one nesting pair in the riparian zone nearby. When their babies fledge they bring them to the tree if there is a successful fruiting and feed them the flesh of the apricots. Although this tree is not native it has become a great resource for them.

Lakeshore, ON

Latitude: 42.2 Longitude: -82.9

Observed by: Laura
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