Today ecologist Susan Harrison has kindly provided another photo installment. Susan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
An Oriole helper at an unusual nest
In Ashland, Oregon in late May, some Bullock’s Orioles (Icterus bullocki) were tending their young in a beautifully woven nest along Bear Creek. Unlike normal Oriole nests I’d seen nearby in the past, which were suspended from branches of tall Fremont cottonwoods (Populus fremontii), this one was nestled in the foliage of a small Oregon oak (Quercus garryana) only 10 feet or so above a well-used bike and footpath. (See here for a lovely article about how Bullock’s Orioles weave their nests.) The unusual positioning of this nest made it easy to photograph, but I sure hoped it was safe from predators.
Here’s the adult male, feeding the chicks with a parental dedication not always seen in gorgeous male birds:
He also took time off periodically to sing his territorial song:
As unusual as the nest location was that a second male helped feed the chicks. While observing, I mistook this bird for the female, but later realized his pale orange coloring and faint black markings were those of an incompletely mature male.
The male helper:
“Helpers at the nest” in many bird species are young adult offspring who may opt to stay around the nest and assist their parents in raising their next brood, while learning how to parent and waiting for a future year with better breeding opportunities. Nest helping is not a widely observed behavior of Bullock’s Orioles, though. The only reference I could find to a similar observation suggested that the female of the pair might have died. Alarmed by this possibility, I raced back to the nest and was relieved to find the female present.
Here’s mom:
The lucky chicks, who will spend 2 weeks in their woven home, were being tended by three adults!
My speculation is that when the terrible Almeda fire of 2020 burned several towns and miles of riparian forest along Bear Creek, in addition to displacing thousands of people, it created a shortage of Bullock’s Oriole nesting sites — thus leading to both the unusually-placed nest and the young male helping his parents rather than breeding.
The next photo shows the burned riparian forest in the general location of the nest. Most of the fire-killed trees are Fremont cottonwoods. I took the photo because of the Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) artfully posed on a fire-killed Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa).
Burned riparian forest and geese:
And a few other birds around Ashland in late May:
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana):
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilio chlorurus):
Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis):
Beautiful color contrast in this
Wonderful photos, thanks for sharing. I find photographing birds extremely difficult, so am doubly impressed by those who can do it well. And I’d not come across the concept of nest helping, another interesting lesson.
In my experience, Orioles are extremely difficult to photograph, so I’m quite impressed with your collection. Thank you.
My first thought: this is wonderful stuff — and I see that — wonderful — is already in a comment above. Likewise, nest helping, new to me.
Excellent post! I didn’t know about nest helpers. The Oriole pictures are spectacular and the other pictures are, well, also spectacular.
Gorgeous photos!
Beautiful photos Susan! Thanks!
Lovely photos. Thank you. I hope those orioles succeed, despite the unusual nesting location.
Crazy — to me, at least, to see geese up so high. I want to say, “You silly goose!” That’s a cool catch. Nice to look at birds after hearing such sad news from Dobrzyn.
These are absolutely lovely. Thanks.