Bullock's Oriole

There are 9 different species of orioles in the United States. A couple species, like the Altamira and Audubon orioles, are usually only found in south Texas. The Baltimore and orchard range through out most of the eastern US. In the west the common oriole is the Bullock's. In the central parts of the country where the range of the Baltimore and Bullock's overlap there is often crossbreeding between the two species. This oriole was photographed in Idaho.

Bullock's Oriole

 The Bullock's oriole is a colorful member of the Icteridae, blackbird, family found in the western half of North America. The Bullock's oriole was named after William Bullock who was an English born collector and amateur naturalist. On a trip to Mexico he shot a Bullock's oriole and brought it back to professional naturalist and birder William Swainson who named the species after Bullock.

For a while the Bullock's oriole and the Baltimore oriole were combined into a single species called the northern oriole. This was primarily due to the fact that the two species do hybridize with one and other where their ranges over lap in the central portion of North America. However DNA testing revealed that the two species are not very similar so they were broken back up into two separate species.

Bullock's Oriole

Bullock's Oriole

Bullock's Oriole at Snake River

Last year around this time we were preparing to depart on our Yellowstone trip. Before heading into Yellowstone we swung over into Idaho to visit the Snake River Bird of Prey Conservation Area. Our timing was excellent because we would be in the area at the time of the Snake River Birds of Prey Festival.

We very pleasantly surprised by all of the cool field trips and lectures that the festival had to offer. One of the highlights of our whole vacation that year was getting to hold and photograph burrowing owl chicks that were only days old. Unfortunately we will not be heading to Yellowstone this spring, we went to Texas instead, so we are not attending this years festival but if you are in the area on May 14 - 16 I would definitely recommend this festival. You can find more information here http://www.snakeriverbirdsofpreyfestival.com/

While we were in the Snake River area we had the opportunity to photograph Bullock's orioles. This was cool as we do not find Bullock's orioles here in Minnesota, their range is the western half of the US. The Bullock's oriole and it's eastern relative the Baltimore oriole were once considered the same species, the northern oriole. After a closer study it was determined that the two types were different enough to be considered separate species, although the species will mix where their ranges overlap.

The Bullock's orioles nest is made of woven fibers hung between tree branches. The fibers can be hair, grass, or man made, like in this case where the nest was made of fishing line. Inside the nest is lined soft materials like cottonwood seeds or feathers. The nest is built in an isolated tree which is often by water. This nest was located in Celebration Park which is located on the bank of the Snake River. Next spring we will probably return to Yellowstone and possibly make it back to Snake River for the festival.

Bullock's Oriole

Another bird that we got to photograph on our Yellowstone trip and that we can add to our life list is the Bullock's oriole. The Bullock's oriole is the western cousin of the Baltimore oriole which we see here in Minnesota during the warm months.

At one time these two types of orioles where both considered the same, northern orioles, but testing has shown that there is enough of a difference between the two to separate them into different species. Orioles, it would appear, did not get the memo because they often mate across the species where their ranges cross, creating Bullock's Baltimore hybrids.

Bullock's orioles are primarily insect eaters. They find their prey by scouring the trees and bushes for spiders, caterpillars and other insects. Their preferred habitat is open woodland especially when it is next to a river or stream. This makes sense, since we spotted quite a few of these birds, and took these photos, in Celebration Park, which is located adjacent to the Snake River near Boise, ID.

My World: Celebration Park

Another location in the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA that we stopped at was Celebration Park.

Celebration Park was established in 1989 and is Idaho's only archaeological park. The park is situated on the banks of the Snake River and was the wintering grounds for the Paiute Indians. Rock face petroglyphs, drawn by Native Americans some 12,000 years ago, are the reason why the park was established.Unfortunately we did not have very much time, only a day and a half total in Idaho, so I did not have enough time to go and photograph the petroglyphs. Instead I spent most of my time at Celebration Park doing what I usually do, photographing the flora and fauna.

The thing that I photographed the most at Celebration Park were the Bullock's orioles. This was another new life bird that we photographed on this trip.

The area was very beautiful so I did stop photographing the birds long enough to get a few scenic shots.

Another new life bird that we photographed on this trip was the California quail. We found these birds in quite a few locations around Snake River.

There were also western meadowlarks singing in the fields surrounding the park. I have photographed western meadowlarks before but since we do not see them very often in eastern Minnesota we stopped when ever one was out in the open singing to take some pics.

The river plays an important role in forming the habitat of the park. As you went away from the park the area was very dry with low scraggly vegetation. Near the river, however, it was very green with a lot more trees then could be found else where.

The river itself also provided habitat for some birds. I spotted numerous spotted sandpiper searching the shallows looking for aquatic invertebrates to eat.

There was a bridge with a walking path that crossed over the river but we were not sure that it looked very safe so we decided just to stay on one side.

But the bridge, power lines and other man made structures also helped provide habitat for the local wildlife.
There were plenty of swallows there hunting insects that used the power lines to perch and take a rest. It was interesting because there were only a few barn and tree swallows around and a lot of bank and cliff swallows. We have all these types of swallows in Minnesota but mostly I see a lot of barn and tree swallows and rarely bank and cliff swallows. So it was interesting when birders from the convention showed up and were more interested in the barn and tree swallows. I guess we kind of take for granted the birds that are common in the area that we live.