It's a rainy, misty day today, good for nothing better than to sit indoors playing on my laptop. Ken, being the love that he is, helped me get the mulch onto the garden while it was still misting and we were very lucky to finish before the rain really set in.
So I thought I'd show you the promised oriole photos:

That little chap at the far left is a Grosbeak.

They're already on their second nectar bottle fill up and seem to have lost some of their initial shyness.
I've tried several types of liquid feeders in the past and most of them tend to drip the nectar away on their own. Even this glass ball feeder tends to drip an extra few drops after one of the birds has finished drinking but nowhere as badly as the others. Since the glass is so brightly orange, I don't have to add food coloring to my mixture which is the other reason that I like it. I figure if the food coloring isn't good for us, why would I give it to the birds.
I make my own nectar using 1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of boiling water.
If you've ever tried a nectar feeder you'll know all about ants taking over the feeder. Last year I happened to be at Lee Valley and found this handy contraption ...fill it full of water and hang it above the feeder. Supposed to keep ants away. Since I've never tried it, I can't guarantee the results. I also bought an image of a spiders web that's attached to the window & is supposed to keep birds from flying into the glass. I wanted something that was unobtrusive enough for us inside, unfortunately it's as invisible to the birds outside. Because the feeders are so close to the windows, we get a lot of birds bumping into the glass but so far never hard enough to do any damage.

Last but not least, here's Kitty (short for KitKat) at her only indoor recreation besides sleeping. Bird watching!
We got Kitty as a 1 to 2 yr old, after our beautiful Maine Coon, died of a congenital heart condition that many of this breed are susceptible to & Ken, bless his soft heart, didn't want to repeat this heartache. So for the first time in my life, we bought an adult cat.... from a rescue shelter that does not euthanize. Kitty seemed very docile & loving and had the most incredible green eyes. It wasn't until several months after we got him home that we realized that he must have been abused in his short life.
I surmise that at the first house he lived at, the children must have been quite vigorous in pulling his tail and teasing him. He probably scratched and so instead of disciplining the kids, Kitty was de-clawed. Then when his punishment continued, he started biting and that was probably the reason for him being put out for adoption. He is very adamant in his hatred of children and strangers but luckily here, he doesn't go beyond hissing. However if you pet him too close to his tail, he will give a warning nip. Not like when we first got him and he tore Ken's hand up with his teeth. We were close to giving him back but what kind of life would he have had. He would have been unadoptable...besides you can't give your children back either when they don't turn out the way you want them to.
In the 2 yrs that we've had him, he's really mellowed and even without his claws he, unfortunately, is the most incredible hunter!