Madison County Master Gardener A

Baltimore Orioles Love Grape Jelly??

One of our Master Gardeners, Loretta, received an email the other day from her friend Pam. It seems Pam has been visited by a couple of Baltimore Orioles that have delighted her children and made things quite interesting around her house. It's a cute story so we thought we'd share it with you. We think Pam has made a friend for life!

"There has been an oriole lurking outside my bedroom window these last few days. He sits in the viburnum bush outside the window and then flies down to the window ledge to peck at the window. He's very persistent about trying to get in - I'm not quite sure what he's after. He's also very chirpy about it. The female shows up every now and then. He's been eating the oranges that we put out. We put grape jelly in the center which he eats first. Someone told me that they love grape jelly."

On another note, Loretta took a couple of pictures of a small nest of baby wrens in her greenhouse the other day. These tiny little fellows are sure sweet, and when fully grown they are great at controlling garden pests and also have a marvelous song!