April 25 201. RBG Arboretum Hamilton ON. Really I saw very few birds today, I was busy doing other stuff, I surprised myself though by picking out the song of a Baltimore Oriole from the racket surrounding me. It was nice to know that there’s a bit of me on high alert for things like unexpected bird song.
Quite apart from the Baltimore Oriole’s splendour, the shocking orange and black which according to Ernest Choate in his Dictionary of American Bird Names were the colours of the Baltimores, the colonial proprietors of Maryland back in the 1700s, this is a very early date for this species. A couple of years ago I heard and saw one on April 27th, I was quite astounded then; they are a bird I associate with full leaf-out and bright floriferous gardens. And in a couple of weeks that’s the way it’ll be, they’ll be everywhere and I know I’ll tire of their insistent and piercing whistles. But on this date with scarcely a splash of colour anywhere, they are Bird of the Day; and although I don’t have a picture of a Baltimore Oriole, perhaps its close cousin, this Hooded Oriole, will provide enough of a hint of what’s soon to come.
Stunning. Sigrid