Oriole Nest

The colorful Baltimore oriole is a favorite summer bird for many Kansans. The male is bright orange marked with black, while the female’s color is more subdued. Orioles build the most intricate bird nests found in America, and it’s not uncommon for their woven baskets to hang for years before deteriorating. A new nest is built each year. Sometimes, an old oriole nest is stripped of fibers for use in new construction. Otherwise, fibers are pulled from the stalks of dead plants or fibrous bark to provide strong threads. String, horsehair, or fabric bits may also be used. It takes about a week of continuous work to complete the average oriole nest. Females do most of the work, but the male also helps. Orioles build with purpose, though their stitching is random. Even so, it’s clear they have a process in mind. They usually select a hanging limb about 25 feet high. The nest shown here, just six feet off the ground in a cottonwood, provided a rare chance to watch construction close up. Threads or grasses are at first wrapped around sturdy twigs. Orioles don’t tie knots as such, but instead push fibers through overlapping wraps and then pull loose ends back through with force. Repeated again and again, this creates a tight weave. Crossing braces may be woven in to help provide strength, especially at points of nest attachment. The builder works from above and below, and from side to side. As the basket is formed, the bird moulds its interior shape by pushing and stretching with wings and breast. Fibers are poked through the woven wall in a vigorous thrust-and-draw movement like that of a sewing machine. The end result has been called “an indescribable chaos of looped and knotted fibers.” Orioles choose dense pockets of foliage to help hide the nest. It’s usually hard to spot in summer leaves. But it makes a good home for an average of four eggs, and for a month or so, it’s headquarters for a new family of Baltimore orioles. Common in Kansas, it’s a yearly wonder of natural construction. I’m Mike Blair for Kansas Wildlife and Parks.