On Thursday, January 2, we had an adult male Hooded Oriole show up at one of our hummingbird feeders. This is a large and beautiful bird with a bright yellow-orange head, a black face and throat, black wings with white wing patches and a long dark tail. We’re used to seeing these birds in SaddleBrooke because they nest here in tall palm trees and our next-door neighbor owns one of those tall palms. Hooded Orioles are migratory visitors to SaddleBrooke, typically arriving from Sonora, Mexico in March, raising one or two clutches of babies over the summer and then heading back to Mexico around Labor Day. Note that the six months from March to September do not include January, so when a Hooded Oriole is seen around here in the winter, it’s noteworthy. It becomes even more so if such a rare sighting continues, and as of today (Thursday, February 13) this adult Hooded Oriole has now hung out with us for about six weeks. We’ve lived in this house for 22 years, and we had a similar experience in 2010, when another adult Hooded Oriole spent the entire winter with us. Our weather, so far this winter, has been unusually mild, but, in 2010, we had the coldest winter of our 22 years here, and we have no idea what motivated this bird to hang out. Maybe he just didn’t feel like another Mexican vacation.
Two weeks after we discovered the Hooded Oriole, on Wednesday, January 15, Prudy noticed another unusual bird. This guy was another adult male, smaller than the Hooded Oriole, and with a chestnut-colored belly, white wing bars and a black head. Its bill was metallic blue, and it was feeding on a hummingbird feeder, just like the Hooded Oriole. This turned out to be an Orchard Oriole, far rarer than a January Hooded Oriole. Although Orchard Orioles are occasionally seen in Arizona, they are an eastern oriole that rarely venture west of Texas. This sighting created quite a lot of excitement among Arizona birders, and we hosted several birders from Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties, not to mention a few farther locations. The Orchard Oriole is still being seen at our hummingbird feeders on Thursday, February 13, a month after we first saw him. It’s noteworthy that no other Orchard Orioles have been spotted in Arizona during the past 30 days, and to the best of our knowledge, the closest one to us in the last month was recorded near Santa Ana, California. What brought this beauty to our yard is a mystery, and what motivates the bird to stick around is an even larger mystery.
During the past month, while both rare orioles continue to hang out at our hummingbird feeders, we have discovered a third rarity in our yard. Number three is not an oriole, but a high-elevation hummer, a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird. This is a bird that normally winters in Mexico and migrates from there to nesting areas in the mountains, typically at elevations from 5,000 to 12,000- feet. We often see this species in SaddleBrooke during August, while it is moving from Mt. Lemmon to its lower winter elevations, but finding it during early February at our elevation is rare.
These three examples should encourage you to keep hummingbird feeders out year-round, and to keep your eyes open for unusual birds. As I mentioned, why we are seeing these strange and unusual birds this winter remains a mystery. Maybe that Orchard Oriole made a wrong turn in Dallas. Just remember what our birding friend Rick says, “Birds have wings and don’t read maps.”
If you have questions or comments about SaddleBrooke’s birds, or to receive emailed information about bird walks led by Bob and Prudy, call (520) 825-9895 or send an email to bobandpru@gmail.com. Previously published articles can be found at birdingthebrookeandbeyond.com.
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