Beautiful Stranger

My favorite photo of our visiting Hooded Oriole

Our yard hosts many lovely birds each year and we are especially lucky that a group of Baltimore Orioles comes back to us every winter. They start appearing sometime around October and leave in March or April. They are uncommon in Athens, Georgia, so when I report them on the citizen science reporting app, eBird, they get marked as rare or unusual and a report goes out to birders who might be interested in seeing them. This winter was no exception. When they arrive in the fall, I place several dishes of cheap grape jelly in feeders around the yard because they are fruit eaters and they love the sugar. So it was not unusual for me to look out of the kitchen window on January 1 and see a pretty orange and black bird gobbling jelly. Just another oriole, I thought. But something was off. This bird did not look like the typical orioles we see in Georgia. The adult male Baltimore Orioles are almost neon orange with a black head and back. The females and young are lighter orange with brownish orange heads, or in the case of the young males, splotchy black heads as they mature. This bird was a lighter shade of orange, with an orange head, a black chin and face, and a black tail. My heart started to pound. This was something special! I am not an expert birder. I like to watch them and know how to identify a lot of birds, but I'm hesitant to report that I've seen something rare because I'm often wrong. I'm a person who is prone to hear hoofbeats and think zebras. I pulled out my field guides and used the ID feature on my iPhone and all signs pointed to a Hooded Oriole! I was so excited that I was starting to hyperventilate. But then I looked at the range map and saw that they are not seen in Georgia. They are west coast birds, ranging from California to Mexico, Southern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Red flag. I was very unsure. So, I decided to post a photo of it on Facebook saying, I think I have a Hooded Oriole in my yard and waited for my experienced birder friends to kindly talk me down. Minutes later, the thumbs up appeared, and several trusted people validated my report! So exciting! But that was just the beginning of the monthlong saga that caused my yard to be named "Stakeout Hooded Oriole" to the birding world.

First blurry shot with my phone

You can see the oriole was far out of his normal range

Later that afternoon I received a call from my friend Richard, who is an expert birder and has, himself, reported rare birds in his beautiful native yard habitat. He was calling to walk me through what happens when you report a very rare bird on eBird. A rare report triggers emails to people who are interested in seeing rarities in their own city, state, region or nationally. Richard had actually hosted a Hooded Oriole in his yard during the winter of 2025 and we suspected that this could be the same one. He said that when it came to his yard it was only the 2nd sighting of a Hooded Oriole in Georgia, making ours the 3rd. Pretty cool. When the bird was in Richard's yard, he stuck around for several months and made himself viewable for many, many interested people. I think Richard told me 150 or so. He told me that we were under no obligation to make the yard available to the public, but that if we did we would need to set some boundaries that worked for us, and people would need to respect them. After talking with my husband, we decided that it was a good thing to share a special birding opportunity with the public, so I reported the bird and let people know they were welcome during certain hours and with some restrictions. Hoodini, as he had been nicknamed last year, was very shy and at that point was feeding mostly in our fenced back yard. I have dogs and they need to go outside, so we needed to work around that. And our family needs to use our garage and driveway. But I figured that people would just have to deal with us if they wanted to see the big star. There were no issues.

I was relieved when he returned!

No issues, except that after I reported him, Hoodini was nowhere to be seen. I didn't see him again for a couple of days. But the day after I posted the report I looked out of my window to see a line of people across the street from my house with their binoculars and cameras trained on our yard. I think there were about 10 people, but I couldn't get a great view without going outside and disturbing them. Birders were standing in my front yard, and walking cautiously through the gates of the back yard. No one saw the Hooded Oriole that day and I felt bad like it was somehow my responsibility to give them a good show. Luckily, our Baltimore Orioles stepped up and people were pretty happy to see them as a consolation prize, since they are uncommon. One report said we had 9 of them at one time. And I should mention that we also had a couple of also uncommon Tennessee Warblers. So it wasn't a total waste of time. But still I hoped Mr. Hoodie would return.

Light colored Baltimore Oriole young male

Vivid orange adult male Baltimore Oriole

Uncommon winter visitor--Tennessee Warbler

A day or two later I looked out the kitchen window and he was back! I let Richard know and he came right over and was able to take some nice photos through the window. At least I hadn't imagined a rare bird. And the day after that Richard sat in the yard for a while and was able to get some wonderful photos of Hoodini tussling with Baltimore Orioles over the jelly dish. I was pretty jealous though. I had only gotten blurry, terrible pictures and this was my house! My problem was that he was so skittish that just moving my camera near a window scared him away. And he never stayed for long. And if I went outside it would take a long time for all the birds to calm down again after opening the doors. But I waited patiently. More visitors came. At one point someone called the UGA campus police to report suspicious looking people with binoculars. When the police were told what was going on they thought it was neat and we didn't have any more problems. I hadn't thought of notifying my neighbors, so I talked to some and wrote up a note to leave with my contact info. There were no police complaints after that.  

Finally a nice photo! Soooo pretty!

Most of my shots looked like this

As Hoodini got more comfortable in the yard, he started spending more time at the front yard feeders, which was better for visitors and gave me my best viewing spot from inside the house and I finally got some beautiful photos of him. My daughter and granddaughter were able to see him, which made me happy. The visitors who came were very appreciative and courteous. I saw some people day after day, hoping to get a peek at him. One group of young guys set up across the street with lawn chairs. People came from as far as Atlanta. One man set up his tripod in the back yard and stood in a light rain for hours, just waiting. Finally he moved to the front yard, where he met another couple of people who were hoping to see him. I went out to say hi and just then, Hoodini made his appearance! High fives all around. People offered to help me pay for jelly. Richard brought me a jar (the fancy stuff) and a nice note. It was all pretty great. We did not get a huge number of people because many had their chance to see him last year. But there were enough that it felt like an event. 

Success at last!

The Celebrity

For the next few weeks the Hooded Oriole came to our yard every day. I only saw him once or twice each day, and there's no telling if he was visiting one of the feeders that I wasn't watching at the time. I couldn't be everywhere and all at once! The other orioles were around all day, usually from about 8am to 4pm, bouncing from station to station. I have no idea where Hoodini went when he wasn't with me. No one else reported seeing him in their yard. Was he like a stray cat, visiting all the feeders in the area? Was he just hanging out in the bushes somewhere? I have no idea. 

Taking turns at the jelly with a female Baltimore Oriole

The last part of January brought unseasonably cold and wintery weather to Athens. Temperatures dipped into the teens and one weekend we had a freezing rain. I kept the jelly dishes full as well as I could, and Mr. Hooded Oriole came to feed with the rest of the gang. Jelly is a quick energy source for lots of birds, especially when it is cold. In addition to Orioles, we regularly see Orange-crowned Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Mockingbirds, Cardinals, Cowbirds, and later in the spring, Catbirds, all enjoying the jelly. This year we also had the Tennessee Warbler, and I watched Red-winged Blackbirds helping themselves when it was especially cold. It stayed icy and cold for the week and the next weekend it snowed a few inches--lots of winter for our area. 

Icy tree branches. Everything outside was slick.

There was even ice on the birds

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Red-winged Blackbirds prefer birdseed but will eat jelly when they're hungry

Cardinals won't pass up a sweet burst of energy

I guess the birds hunkered down and took shelter in bushes or leafy trees in the icy rain and snow. When there was a break in the snow I saw lots of activity at all the feeders as the birds refueled so they could maintain their warmth and energy. Baltimore Orioles will also eat seed and suet and even camellia flowers (possibly for the nectar?), though I never observed Hoodini eating anything other than jelly. In the wild, Hooded Warblers eat insects, but those are hard to find in the snow. I didn't see him again until the next day after the snow had ended. He came and ate a few times, and then he was gone. I haven't seen him since February 1. 

Two Baltimore Orioles bickering over the jelly while the snow falls

He showed up one last time the day after the snow storm. This is my last photo.

I have watched for him every day for a month. I guess he has moved on, but I worry about him. He does not have the safety of a flock of other Hooded Orioles to travel with. Though he interacted with the Baltimore Orioles, he was not part of their group. Several times I saw a neighbor's cat prowling in the yard and it gave me a start. I shooed it away, but I know it could come back another time. I think I saw fox tracks in the snow. I also saw a Cooper's Hawk in the front yard, eyeing the feeders. They hunt birds in our yard all the time. A Red-tailed Hawk in the back yard had the local birds spooked for a while until they realized it was busy eating its squirrel, and they went about their business. I hope Hoodini is safe. I hope he has moved to some place with lots of bugs and jelly. I hope I see him again (or maybe I don't, because he doesn't belong in Georgia, so far away from his native range and fellow Hooded Orioles). But for one month it was nice to have something magical to take my mind off all the awful stuff going on in our country and in the world. Fare thee well, my beautiful hooded friend. 

Winter Colors: Brown

Bare Brown Woods

I watched the colors change over the course of the fall, and before I knew it, fall became winter, leaving the landscape bare and brown. The colors faded as the sunlight waned and the temperatures dipped, turning the woods from garish yellows, oranges and reds to sudued earthtones. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, except for the Beech leaves that hang on and rustle in the breeze. The leaves that fell will break down to form new soil, at first leaving only a skeletal outline of veins and stems before decaying altogether. Acorns, Buckeye and flower seeds, ripened to a rich brown, become a delicious feast for the lucky finder. Freezing winter nights bring sparkling leafy treasures to find on a morning walk. The groundhog saw his shadow this week, predicting six more weeks of winter. This is fine with me because for a short while it is easy to spot birds and squirrels out in the open, without the protective cover of leaves. For now I enjoy the quiet and cold and wait for the sun to warm the soil. 

Beech Leaves

Leaf Skeleton

Ripened Flower Seeds

Buckeye Seed

Acorn Pile

Frosty Sweet Gum Leaf

Sparkling Frozen Landscape

Brown Creeper

Gray Squirrel

Carolina Wren

White Tailed Deer

Hermit Thrush

Female Eastern Towhee

Brown Turkey Tail Fungi

Fall Colors: Blue

Here it is-- the last day of fall. Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. A few freezing nights have toasted just about all the fall blooms, except for a few that were protected close to the ground or close to the house. The prevailing landscape colors are muted earth tones, and they are lovely. But every so often, I glimpse a flash of blue as a bluebird or bluejay zips past, or catch the brilliant blue sky from between the branches of the leafless trees and it jolts me awake from my cold weather nap. Blue is my favorite color and has been since I was little. My first memory of loving the color comes after I visited Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake. Somehow I got it into my head that stars were blue. Maybe they appeared that way on the dome of the planetarium, or maybe we looked at a mineral that had some blue in it, but Cobalt blue seemed magical ever after, and is the one that really makes my heart sing, though most blues will do it for me. Lapis lazuli. Sigh. Blue makes me smile, quickens my pulse, brightens my eyes. It pops. Blue symbolizes hope and promise, loyalty and calm. Blue skies peeking through the clouds let us know there is hope and a future after the storm. It also symbolizes sadness to some, though not to me. "The Bluebird of Happiness" "Blue Skies, smiling at me, nothing but blue skies, do I see". After the year we've just been through, I definitely need more blue in my world. 

Carolina Chickadee feasts on the blue fruits of invasive privet

Blue tail of an immature 5 Lined Skink on a warmer day

Waning Moon in a bright blue sky

Tiny Bluejay feather

Great Blue Heron shows tinges of blue on the edges of its wings

Belted Kingfisher, blue with cold! (It was 28 degrees that morning)

Clear Blue Skies and Bare Trees

A hungry bee feeding from the last of the Blue Salvia

Bluebird of Happiness (Eastern Bluebird)

Brighter Days ahead

Fall Colors: Purple

Purple is a restful color. Not fiery red, not cool blue--but a pleasant and tranquil mix. We need more purple in our lives. Just a month ago, the color purple was everywhere. Purple asters sprinkled among the goldenrod that carpeted the roadsides, and clusters of purple berries and grapes hung ready to be gobbled by hungry birds and deer. But in December, the flowers are mostly spent and the beautyberry fruit, and poke and virginia creeper berries are mostly gone, save for a few that escaped the cold and the herbivory. Their days are numbered. Too late for Red-spotted Purple butterflies, and too early for violets. But walking around the woods and in my yard, I still was able to find a few bright purples flashes holding out before winter turns the landscape all brown and tan and white. 

In the fall, Sweetgum leaves come in all the colors. This one is purple, but I've found
yellow, orange, red and brown too.

Moss Phlox blossoms in the Playscape at the Nature Center

A clump of Beautyberries that made it through the first frost

A few Georgia Aster blooms are hanging on in our sheltered pond garden

The flowers of Muhly grass are like soft purple clouds in the front yard

The underside of a Crane-fly Orchid leaf (Tipularia discolor) is bright purple surprise

Spores from big white Puff Ball fungi leave purple/brown discs on the grass

 These Purple Cort (Cortinarius) mushrooms were so lovely that I had to include them, even though
I saw these  a few years back on a hike with the Ramblers

Purple Finches came with the migrant warblers and a few have stayed around,
now hanging with the Robins and Cedar Waxwings

Violet Toothed Polypores, I believe. I don't know my fungi. My only clue is the purple edge.