Baltimore Orioles for the Atlas

Baltimore Oriole, photographed by Aaron Bourque.

June 24, 2020 — Baltimore Oriole sightings seemed unusually high in Connecticut in May. Who knows why? Maybe more orioles were around. Maybe more people had more pandemic-induced time on their hands to look and notice.

If you’re still seeing and hearing orioles in your yard or neighborhood, the Connecticut Bird Atlas wants to know. Connecticut Audubon is a prime sponsor of the Atlas project, so your membership and donations are already supporting it, but this is another way you can help.

In a blog post for the Atlas, UConn Professor Chris Elphick wrote: “Oriole nests are among the easiest North American bird nests to identify, forming hanging baskets high up in a tree. Often they are placed in the outer branches – a pattern that has been suggested to be more common in areas where squirrels are more likely to pose a predation risk – and frequently they hang from the lowest branches, making it easier to see them if you can get just the right angle.

“By looking carefully when a bird disappears into a clump of leaves …, it is often possible to find a nest.”

Chris is one of the organizers of the project. Read his full post, “Confirming Orioles,” here. Then come back and read our “Natural Selections” blog interview with Chris, here.