Best Oriole Feeder

The best oriole feeder for attracting Bullock's, Hooded, Orchard or Baltimore orioles is one that offers both fruit and nectar, with the option of adding grape jelly too.

One of the Best Feeders for Orioles
The Bird Choice Oriole Fest Feeder can hold one-half of an orange, nectar and jelly. It is composed of UV stable, high-impact polycarbonate material, is dishwasher safe, has four large perches, holds 12oz of nectar, and has a built in an guard. The feeder is colored orange to enhance attracting those initial oriole visitors.

Reviewer: "...So would I recommend this feeder? You bet. Be sure to keep the feeder stocked in grape jelly. They loved it! My oriole clung to the stem of this feeder and bent over to slurp up the jelly. I recommend buying the grape jelly in the squeeze bottle..." - Lynette Fleming

This Fruit & Jelly Oriole Feeder is a really nice oriole feeder made by Bird Choice. It also allows you to offer not only nectar, but also jelly and fruit or orange nuggets and meal worms which you can add to the 2 dishes or use the two pegs to attach oranges, apples or pears. It has a nice little roof to protect the feeder and birds from the rain and deflect some of the damaging sun rays off the feeder itself. The feeder is made from thick recycled plastic (yeah for recycling!) and can be hung from the heavy duty steel cable.

Here is a video presented by Duncraft of the above feeder so you can see the two trays better and how they can be used.

Here are current discount oriole feeders for sale on eBay. A lot of times eBay sellers can buy feeders in bulk and sell them cheaper than through a normal retail outlet store.

Attracting orioles to your backyard feeders isn't difficult if you present the right food in the right type of feeder. Make sure your oriole fruit feeder is brightly colored, orange or deep yellow colors are good and is placed in an easy to find area in your yard - at least initially until the orioles find it. Remember to routinely clean your feeders to prevent bird diseases from being transmitted. Also do not hang your feeder right next to windows (without taking precautions) to prevent bird window collisions. Fruit bird feeders will likely attract other visitors such as hummingbirds, red and yellow-shafted flickers, cactus wrens and catbirds.

An interesting side not of orioles is that their pendulous nests are one of the most complicated nests built by North American birds. They are built near the outermost tips of branches to prevent predators from entering. Hung like gourds, they are composed of carefully woven plant fibers and other similar materials such as fur, hair or even man-made, synthetic items. Both the male and female oriole will build the nest, but it is primarily done by the female. They will take anywhere between four to fifteen days to complete the nest.

Oriole Nectar Concentration Same as Hummingbird Food?

Susan Asked: Hi - I live where we have a huge population of hummers and Orioles, plus Western Meadowlarks and other birds at the nectar feeders. I have a large hummer feeder (use 1 to 4 solution) but the Oriole feeder should be 1 to 6. Unfortunately, all these birds switch back and forth from feeder to feeder. Is it OK for the Orioles to have the 1 to 4 ratio? Can I use 1 to 5 for all feeders to compromise? Thanks for your response.

Answer: It would be fine to either keep the oriole feeder at 1:6, your hummingbird feeder at 1:4 or have 1:4 for all feeders. Don't go any weaker that 1:4 for the hummingbirds. If all your feeders were 1:5, you may start to see your hummingbird visitors dwindle. They'll go elsewhere to find higher concentrations in either flowers (or your neighbors feeders!) for their high energy requirements.

As for the orioles, the 1:4 ratio will be okay. Orioles, as you know, like grape jelly and I've seen recipes that call for 1 cup of sugar for each cup of grape juice. They seem to have no problems with the sweet grape jelly, so probably won't have any issues with the nectar solution. So, out of convenience, you can make the 1:4 ratio for all your nectar feeders and everyone will be happy.

Why the 1:6 ratio is suggested for Orioles? Can't seem to fine the origins or an explanation. I see lots of pages with the 1:6 ratio recipe, but no reasoning. When I was researching hummingbird nectar, the 1:4 ratio is about the same as the flowers hummingbirds are attracted to. So I'm assuming the 1:6 ratio is close to the flower nectar concentration orioles are attracted to. Either that or people found they could save some sugar and still get orioles to visit their feeders! Anyway, the study of hummingbirds found they will eat nectar with concentrations as high as 50%, so the orioles should not have any issues with the higher concentrations either.

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Oriole Nectar Concentration Same as Hummingbird Food?

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