Baltimore Oriole

Hidden Valley Rd, Burlington, ON May 5.  2022. Back in February I was asked by this city’s recreation department if I’d be interested and able to lead some birding walks in May. My first thought was, ‘Really? Are sure you want to do that? Instead I said, ‘Sure. Let’s try it.’ So we did. The first one was in mid-April and was a bit of a non-event, although the handful of participants liked it, particularly an obliging Red-tailed Hawk that circled low overhead. Our second one, in early May, promised more birds, but a nasty weather system made it touch and go for a while. Anyway, on May fifth, off we went, about six of us including a city-staffer.

We made a last-minute change of location on account of the weather and ended up walking a quiet, rural road.  It followed a small river valley and dead-ended at a forest, there was a scattering of modest homes, it was all rather idyllic; and there were birds to see. We saw and shared, to greater or lesser extents, twenty-two species including Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a Belted Kingfisher, many Blue Jays including a pair building a nest and a breath-taking Rose–breasted Grosbeak. There were several predictables too: Canada Geese, Mourning Doves and Song Sparrows.  For me it is rewarding to helping people get started: when you show them how to adjust the eye-pieces on their binoculars and how to get the bird in your binocular view without hunting helplessly.

Someone asked if there were any Baltimore Orioles and I had to tell my story: That several springs ago, a young birder friend asked when the orioles come back. The fifth of May I said emphatically. I was pretty sure of it because I’d been noting their near clockwork regularity over the years. She negotiated a bit,  laughed it off and let it go.  But then, on the 3^rd of May she called me to say that I was right – almost. It was the third and they were back! The moral of the story is that you can nearly set your watch by them.

And then there was one right above us!  A Baltimore Oriole high on a straggly bare branch. The fifth of May and there it was. We gasped at its brilliant orange. So spectacular. For some it was the first oriole they’d seen for years, and I was the magician. Well, no, I’m not, it happens every May on the 5^th or maybe the 3^rd.