Second Sighting of a Hooded Oriole, on the Tuolumne River!

But the second sighting begs the question: "What happened to the first one?" And that's the story of the day.

Hooded Orioles (Icterus cucullatus) are one of the most attractive birds I never knew existed in our region. Once I started looking for new species around five years ago, I concentrated on the one place in the county that the local birding guide said they might be found: Fox Grove on the Tuolumne River east of Modesto. As it turned out, I finally saw and photographed them there (link here). I found them again at Fox Grove the following year (link here). By then I was wondering whether couldn't be found a few miles upstream on my favorite local trail, the Tuolumne Parkway Trail in Waterford. I started watching more carefully and got a single picture of Hooded Oriole in August of 2016. Ironically, I thought it was Bullock's Oriole at the time, but seeing the photograph later on set me straight (link here).

In 2017, I finally saw Hooded Orioles on the trail and got a selection of pictures. But I finally hit 'gold' in 2018. I found a family of the birds nesting in some palms on the bluff above the river.

So this year I've been watching the palms along my walking route (sometimes to the consternation of the homeowners), hoping to see the nest-building process and following the progress of any of the young. I have been watching carefully. With patience. With unceasing vigilance. And nothing. But then earlier this week I happened to glance at the hummingbird feeder in our backyard, and right there, 10 feet away, was a male Hooded Oriole posing for a picture. I called Mrs. Geotripper, and struggled to unpack my camera, but in the end the picture below is all I got to document the sighting, only the third or fourth in the county so far this spring.

And that is why the second sighting this morning down on the river trail was a bit more satisfying than the first one. I only got the one fairly sharp shot, but it was enough. The bird seems to have some nesting material in its mouth, and I saw it fly up towards the palm trees on the bluff where they nested the previous year. I can bet that I'll be watching more carefully in coming weeks!

ADDENDUM: Not two hours after posting this I was pulling weeds in the yard and sat to rest for a few moments. In perhaps 20 minutes I saw the Hooded Oriole twice. I got a fuzzy shot, but I have hopes now for better. Apparently this Oriole is in our yard more often than I thought.