Baltimore Oriole Constructing Nest

This is the third year I have been privileged to watch a Baltimore Oriole construct a woven nest characteristic of that species...

For two days I watched as she made many trips to the nest site,  bringing twigs and weeds that she skillfully wove into a hanging nest...

 

Each time she entered the nest there was a great deal of movement as she worked her material into place.  Sometimes it would poke through the wall of the nest and she would reach over the top to the outside and grab the protruding end to place it into the nest from the outside...

 

 

Then, she would go back into the nest to stretch and weave some more until the form she desired began taking shape...

 

 

 

Once in a while the male would stop by and review her progress...

He did a thorough inspection, climbing in to check the interior as well as the outside...

 

 

Then he would be off, to return later for another inspection...

Meanwhile, the female continued working on the nest...

 

 

Among the benefits of having orioles around, aside from their beauty and wonderful songs, is the fact that they devour the Eastern Tent Caterpillar, a major pest that defoliates trees in our area...

 

In the next photo, one of the orioles has almost completely eaten all of the caterpillars in the tent...

 



 

I suspect the oriole nest was started the day before I spotted it.  It was beginning to take shape nicely when I left today.  Hopefully, I will be able to document the rearing of young Orioles in a couple of weeks.