Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: The Alula
A Peregrine Falcon perched on a branch in the sunshine, holding its wings up, its tail fanned out
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Bullock's Oriole Weaves a Nest

Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
© Mike Hamilton

The Bullock's Oriole is the only member of the oriole family that nests in the Northwest. With a slender, sharply pointed bill, the oriole weaves a marvelous pouch-like nest that hangs suspended from its upper rim. The nest hangs downward four to eight inches. The female weaves together long, flexible strands of grass - but also adds in man-made materials she finds. To get a better look at the nest, click "Enlarge." Learn more about the Bullock's Oriole at Cornell's All About Birds.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

The Bullock’s Oriole--
Weaving the Oriole’s Nest

This is BirdNote!
[Bullock’s Oriole song]
In yesterday’s BirdNote, we met the Bullock’s Oriole as it emerged with a flash of orange feathers from its well concealed, tree-top nest. [Bullock’s Oriole song]
The Bullock’s Oriole is the only member of the oriole family – there are 27 species in the New World – to nest in the Northwest. [Bullock’s Oriole song] Not only are most of these birds vividly colorful, but they are among the world’s most accomplished nest-builders. With slender, sharply pointed bills, orioles weave marvelous pouch-like nests that hang suspended from their upper rims. 
[Bullock’s Oriole song]
You can spot these hanging nests most easily in the cooler months, when the trees have lost their leaves. One place to look east of the Cascades is in the cottonwoods of the Wenatchee City Park along the Columbia River. The nests resemble a woven cup or pouch, hanging downward four to eight inches. The female builds the nest in about six days, meticulously weaving together long, flexible strands of grass – but also adding in man-made materials close at hand. A careful look at a Bullock’s Oriole’s nest often reveals bits of yarn, fishing line, string from hay-bales, and even the colorful ribbon the wind carried away from a backyard birthday party.
For more of the Bullock’s Oriole’s story than we can tell here, come to birdnote.org.
###
Written by Bob Sundstrom
Bullock’s Oriole song provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  Recorded by G.A. Keller.
Producer:  John Kessler
Executive Producer:  Chris Peterson
© 2009 Tune In to Nature.org    Revised for July 2009

ID# 071806BUOR2KPLU    BUOR-02

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Frank Corrado
Narrator
Mike Hamilton
Photographer
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsnesting

Related Resources

Learn more about the Bullock's Oriole at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii)

Icterus bullockii

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

September 18, 2019

Nesting Marsh Wren

By Gregg Thompson
Male Marsh Wrens will build several--as many fifteen--dome shaped shells in the reeds to woo fema
June 20, 2019

Great Blue Heron nest - it's getting crowded!

By Gregg Thompson
This Great Blue Heron nest is bursting with life!

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy