Nest Building Time for the Orioles

I noticed something funny about my planter on our deck this morning.  Seemed like it was a little fuzzier than before.

So I kept my eye on it.

Sure enough, in a little while there was mother oriole, pulling out strands of it for her nest.

I thought I’d try to help her out (and perhaps save my planter!)  So I cut some pieces of string for her.

Wonder if she would prefer cream or green?
The very next time she came, I was ready with my camera.

She seemed pretty happy with her new find... at least at first!

One, two, how many of these can she carry at once?

But then she seemed to change her mind.  She pulled some stuff out of the planter while she still had the string in her bill.

I thought she was going to fly away with her mouth full...

 Then, she stopped and dropped everything!  Time to think about this!

Finally she went back to the harder stuff... pulling more nesting material out of my planter!  Oh well, I think there is enough for both of us!

 

She really has to tug hard to get it out!  Maybe the string was just too easy for her.

This pair of orioles has chosen to nest in the cherry tree right above our driveway, where we’ve had orioles nests for quite a few years.  This one happens to be visible from our deck!  If you look carefully, you can see her tail sticking straight up from the nest in these next two photos!