The Babies are Growing Up! Hooded Oriole on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail

Time passes quickly when you're having fun...or you're traveling thousands of miles. I've been on the road for four of the last five weeks, and when I wasn't traveling, I was unpacking and packing again. Somehow it's been a month since I last posted any birds!

I've been thinking a lot about home since I was away so long. I've been watching a group of Hooded Orioles along the bluffs above the Tuolumne River since last spring. They had a nest somewhere in a group of palm trees, and I've seen at least three individuals at one time or another. This morning it was an immature male that I assume was one of the babies. Those palms were home for these birds, and so far for this male, it has been the only home it has ever had. But that will change in a matter of weeks. Hooded Orioles are tropical migrants, and they will soon be flying south for winter in their other home somewhere in Mexico or Belize.

But I'm pretty sure the birds will be back. Hooded Orioles are not common in our region, but this is the third year that I've seen the species, all within a few hundred yards of the palm trees on the bluff. Somehow they find this particular spot after a journey of a few thousand miles. I guess when you have a home, you never forget where it is.

I'll miss their bright colors when they leave!