Bullock's Orioles in Phoenix

The last time I wrote about Bullock's orioles was in a David and Goliath story. A pair of the orioles was in a confrontation with two much bigger black hawks. The orioles were vociferously protesting the birds of preys' attack on their nest. In fact it was worse than that: the black hawks had stolen the nest and were most likely feasting on any eggs or nestlings inside it.

Fortunately it was early in the orioles' nesting season, so they still had a chance at raising another brood that summer. These birds migrate through Arizona every summer after wintering throughout Mexico. The nest-plundering I described was in Page Springs near Sedona, so some Bullock's orioles remain in the state when they find good nesting habitat.

However I suspect Phoenix and its surrounding desert are not a summer destination for the birds. But plenty of the orioles pass through the parched Valley on their way north, as I was reminded on a visit to the Desert Botanical Garden this week.

The park is currently ablaze with the blooms of cacti, agaves, palo verdes, and wildflowers among many other plants, which is no surprise as our warm spring starts to turn downright hot in early May. Our giant saguaro cacti may not be in full bloom just yet in the open desert, but plenty of specimens in the city and at the Garden already are. High atop one of the massive cacti where he was nosing around in a flower was where I spotted my first Bullock's oriole of the season.

I've seen Bullock's orioles at the Botanical Garden before, where I photographed several of them four years ago. A year later I saw at least one in Watson Woods in Prescott. But I've had more luck seeing their relatives, the hooded orioles, having recently spotted a male/female pair a short drive east of Phoenix at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Until I fixed a leaky hummingbird feeder, one colorful male even made regular summer visits to my backyard.

On a hike along Black Canyon Trail near the northern limit of the Sonoran Desert, I enjoyed my one and only encounter with a Scott's oriole. Unlike the Bullock's and hooded which are predominately a yellowish orange, the Scott's has a jet black head, breast, and back. He's a strikingly handsome bird among his very good-looking cousins.

There are many more orioles in the family, like the Baltimore and orchard, but the two don't regularly visit Arizona. And beyond the US border, throughout the Americas, there are at least two dozen more species in the grouping that never visit our country.

Photographing the several I encountered at the Desert Botanical Garden was a thrill. For one, they're not easy to shoot. Like every migratory bird, they're wary of people, so you've got to be stealthy and quick with your camera in your hunt for a photograph. If not captivatingly beautiful enough, the birds also time their visits when flowers are blooming, setting the stage for especially delightful pictures.

Besides taking shots of orioles with saguaro flowers, I photographed a number of the birds in blooming ironwood trees. The Bullock's orioles are attracted to nectar just like the hordes of bees swarming the blossoms. The tiny pink petals of the native tree failed to camouflage the hungry birds for long as their sleek outlines and bright amber color quickly gave them away. Alas the nourishing blooms won't last much longer, sending the orioles on their way north.