I've told myself that I should take notes regarding when I see or don't see the regular visiting birds in my backyard. A couple years of procrastination and here it is. It's September 10th and no signs of any orioles for the last couple days. I don't recall exactly when they began to arrive this year, certainly by June. Their return to Arizona and Mexico will lighten the load to my wallet for sugar. The last 6-8 weeks have been one 25 pound bag per week, an all time high for the last 3 years. Most of the demand is from hummingbirds. If I had to guess, there are around 100 hummers visiting the feeders each day now. Mostly Anna's, but a fair number of Black-chinned and Costa's with just a couple of Rufus hummingbirds. As fall approaches, the Anna's will be the only ones remaining in any quantity.
I had 5-6 families of orioles this year (same as last year) judging by the male count and it looks like they did a good job of reproducing bases on the count of juvenile males. One photo is a favorite of mine from my ipcam. The female or juvenile male is leaving the feeder and the camera has distorted the wings into an unusual configuration. The other is one of the Black-chinned Hummers.
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