red-winged blackbird nest robbers? (5 Viewers)

[jojosmith]

I live in Wisconsin. We have a Baltimore Oriole nest in a hackberry tree. We noticed today that a female red-winged blackbird is feeding babies in the nest. At times, the orioles make a fuss and try to chase her away; at other times, they stay away. I've never heard of red-winged blackbirds doing any nest robbing. Anyone have experience with this? We are very disappointed to think that the nest will contribute to more red-wings instead of more orioles.

Thanks,
Jo

 

[delia todd]

Hi Jo and welcome on behalf of the Staff and Moderators

I'm sorry I can't help with your question but maybe someone from your area will be along who can

D

 

[KC Foggin]

And a warm welcome to you from Myrtle Beach :t:

Haven't heard of this going on with RW Blackbirds but others may have

 

[Mark Bruce]

Hi, a warm welcome and good to have you with us :t:!

 

[robinm]

Hi Jo, welcome to BirdForum :t:

 

[Fritz73]

Hola Jo! :hi: Welcome to Birdforum.

 

[a.dancy]

Hi and welcome aboard.

 

[John N]

Hi, welcome to BirdForum.Enjoy yourself here.

 

[ChuckB]

I live in Wisconsin. We have a Baltimore Oriole nest in a hackberry tree. We noticed today that a female red-winged blackbird is feeding babies in the nest. ... Anyone have experience with this? ...

Jo,

This is fascinating! Can you get any video or photos of it before the chicks leave the nest?

I'm no expert, but this just might be some unknown behavior that the experts might want to know about.

The only similar behavior I've seen is classic nest parasitism, where the true parents leave the eggs to be incubated and raised by the "victim" parents. In these cases, the true parents (brown-headed cowbirds are the only ones I've actually seen) never return to the nest after having laid the egg.

I've never heard of two species feeding the same clutch of chicks.

And welcome to BirdForum. (I'm new here, too.)

Chuck

 

[jojosmith]

fledged?

It appears that the birds (whether orioles or RW Blackbirds) have fledged. There has been no activity at the nest in 2 days. With our scope, we could see forms and movement inside the nest previously, but now we can see neither. So we will never know for sure what birds were in there. I will say, however, that I saw some oriole fledgings in the yard today. It doesn't necessarily mean anything, of course, but I like to think that orioles fledged from that nest!

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Jo

 

[Dave B Smith]

Hello Jo,
And another welcome to the Birdforum.