Monarch Hatching- Lifecycle

Tell me about Orioles:

T: "They're orange and black...and I'm done"

M: "They like nectar and grape jelly and oranges.  They're orange, black, and the female is white, yellow brown. They build their nests out of long grass.  One thing I don't like about them is when the female kept banging on our window.  The thing I like about them is that I can watch them eating at the feeders."

L:  Orioles make their nests hang, which can rock in the breeze which makes a nice home. They like string to build their home. Orchard Orioles have brown spotted eggs, and Baltimore Orioles have brown stripey eggs. They will eat from the same feeder as hummingbirds. But we had to take the one on our window down.  One of the orioles kept pecking at our window to find out what was that stuff, because birds cannot see glass.

J: There are lots of different kinds of orioles, for example, the Orchard Oriole.  Where the male Baltimore Oriole is orange, the Orchard Oriole is a dark brown and burnt orange.  The female Orchard Oriole is yellow and olive green and has a black crest.  Their nest is not a hanging nest.  Their range covers all of Kansas, from New Hampshire to the Texas Pan Handle and Manitoba, Ca
nada.  Unlike the Baltimore Oriole, they eat mostly insects, with some nectar and berries. Altamira Orioles are only in the very bottom of Texas.  Their nests are beautiful.  Their nest is a hanging basket, but it is 2ft long, so it hangs down much further than the basket of a Baltimore Oriole.  The nest takes 3 weeks to build and is made out of things like moss, palm fibers, and strips of bark to mention a few materials. The Altamira looks a lot like a Cedar Waxwing, but is bigger than that, and is colored like a Baltimore Oriole, but is also bigger than that.

Last year I thought a Baltimore Oriole was a Robin because all I could see was the orange breast.  I spent the day following it around and calling back to it in the tree.  Then this year, I was taking out the trash and I saw an Oriole in our big cottonwood tree.  I heard it's call, which I didn't know was its communication call. My family did not believe me.  They did not see it at all even when they looked for it.  But a week later, in a different tree, our whole family saw it plainly and it definitely was a Baltimore Oriole. I was vindicated! Mom laughed as I jumped up and down saying, "I'm trustworthy!"


Mama: I still remember that thrilling and fun day!