Baltimore Orioles and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds Are Here

Baltimore Orioles are striking in colour, the orange accentuated by the black just grabs your attention. These beautiful birds can be found nesting throughout the GTA and by providing them with their unique food choices of oranges, BirdBerry Jelly, nectar and mealworms your can enjoy their colourful show all summer.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are often called, "the jewels of nature," and it's no wonder! From their diminutive size to their aerial acrobatics, hummingbirds are always fun to watch and their arrival is one of the most exciting parts of spring. On top of that, mother hummingbirds are probably the hardest working moms of any bird species because they raise their young without any help at all from their mate. Not as commonly seen throughout the summer in the GTA but they do nest in our area. Provide nectar, grow native nectar producing plants and encourage small insects like spiders in your garden, hummingbirds eat small insects for the protein.

Baltimore Orioles - How To Encourage Visits to Your Yard

The first sighting reported to our store in 2022 was on April 18 in a backyard in the area of Hwy 403 & Cawthra. The Baltimore Oriole was in the yard with a Slate-coloured Junco. How cool is that! Our summer birds meeting up with our winter birds! On May 02 oriole sightings jumped: Bloor & Prince Edward, Bampton, and Cawthra and Queensway area; then May 04 the High Park area. Sightings then continued in May and through the end of August from all over the GTA. High eBird sightings confirm Baltimore Oriole are in the GTA, spring through summer. Some of our customers saw the orioles only in May, sometimes on numerous days but by June no sightings. Other customers saw the orioles starting in May and then all through August, continuous visits to the backyard! Why were some customers much more successful? They followed our Wild Birds Unlimited Toronto recipe for success with Baltimore Orioles. Let us share the recipe.

The Baltimore Oriole Recipe for Success

Step 1 - Baltimore Orioles have been sighted in the Ontario/GTA

  • Start putting out oranges cut in half or very ripe bananas
  • Stake them on a tree branch, feeder etc
  • You can tell the oriole is eating the orange or banana when you see poke marks on the fruit, which are known as “gaping”
  • Keep an eye on the fruit for any signs of mould, if mould is found place in the green bin immediately. Change oranges or bananas every four to seven days in the spring should be safe

The feeder must be visible
Orioles locate food sources by sight – hanging from a tree or pole
A separate pole is ideal but can be on a mixed feeder pole

Place the feeder near native plants

Keep the feeder out of the danger zone 
•All bird feeders should be within three feet of windows or 10 feet away
•If outdoor cats are an issue, place the feeder up high

Try to avoid windy areas
•Heavy winds can cause nectar to be spilled (based on feeder type)
•Spilled nectar can attract wasps and ants

Step 2 - The fruit is being eaten by the orioles

  • Maintain the availability of fresh fruit and by the second week of May, introduce nectar

Nectar
1 part white table sugar to 4 parts water - See Nectar Info

But feeding nectar does require proper care and cleaning of the feeders. The nectar we make for orioles is the same nectar recipe used for hummingbirds and the feeders require the same cleaning process.

Step 3 - Jelly Jubilee or BirdBerry Jelly

  • Good activity with nectar - wait to the end of May; slow activity with nectar add the jelly quickly

Step 4 - Live Mealworms/Caterpillars

  • To ensure visits through June into August
  • You must add one more food option - live mealworms or (caterpillars)
  • Add at the beginning of June but can be started earlier
  • A must for success when the orioles have nestlings
  • Protein for migration

Step 5 - plant the native plants for Baltimore Orioles - download a copy - Native Plants for Baltimore Orioles

An added bonus, feeding Baltimore Orioles does not make a mess on the ground.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds - Great to See But...

Unlike the Baltimore Oriole, which has become a relatively common (but still very exciting!) spring/summer backyard bird in the GTA the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is still a bit of backyard visitor challenge. Our first store sighting in 2022 was on May 10 in Brampton and then scattered sightings through June and a few more through July. A review of 2022 Ruby-throated Hummingbird (RTHU) sightings using eBird indicates the number of sightings in the GTA from May - June was a lot more than reported to our store, these sightings indicate the RTHU were definitely migrating through the GTA. Although we had a few July sightings the eBird sightings are much higher.  July sightings generally indicate a bird that is nesting in the GTA and these are the birds that you might see all summer. 

Store reported July sightings of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in backyards are not as plentiful as Baltimore Orioles but they are seen at feeders and/or in the garden. We don't yet have a defined recipe for backyard success with RTHU but it is still possible to see them in the spring and summer. We can only recommend a well maintained nectar feeder, native plants and no pesticides.

Some native nectar plants for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds:

Spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
Canada columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans)
Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Bee balm (Monarda didyma)
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Native plants will attract insects that hummingbirds also love and are needed for their young and just like oriole feeding there is virtually no mess. But feeding nectar does require proper care and cleaning of the feeders. The nectar we make for hummingbirds is the same nectar recipe used for orioles and the requires the same cleaning process. Nectar Info.

As you go further north into more areas of undisturbed land nesting Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are much more common. Cottage country is great for watching hummingbirds all summer.