July 14, 2011 - From day lilies to oriolesSUFFOLKTIMES.COM I JULY 14, 2011
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'When driving along our highways during the
past month, have you noticed the clumps of tall
orange flowers growing along the roadside? This in
troduced perennial plant that primarily originated
from East Asia is called the orange day lily. It has
been in cultivation for a long time.
These old- fashioned day lilies are rarely offered
today by the horticulture industry but have been
replaced by hybrids
FOCUS ON NATURE of various colors,
sizes and lengths of
blooming time. The
i orange day lily blos-
soms for a month
and each large 3
/2 -inch flower lasts
only a single day,
PAUL STOUTENBURGH giving it its common
name — day lilv. The
Above: The female oriole,
lighter in color than the
male, watches as her mate
feeds the hungry young in
their hanging nest.
plant was well known in our parents ana grana-
parents' time, often outlasting the buildings that
surrounded it and their inhabitants.
This colorful orange day lily was the first flower
I became aware of in my dad's garden. It was
probably brought into his flower garden from a
random clump found nearby where an old house
once stood. Through the years I've always appre-
ciated this relic of the past.
Many years ago, we enloye watching a pair of ori-
oles as they built an intricate gourd- shaped nest on
the end of a branch of a big hickory tree in our back-
yard. They returned for many years and we always
enjoyed watching them. When we knew there were
orioles around we used to put pieces of cotton string
around for them to use. We miss hearing their song
coming from the tops of the trees and miss seeing
these brilliantly colored birds living in our backyard.
We were fortunate recently to receive a call from
our son, who had a pair of orioles that had built
near his porch on a low- hanging tree branch. He
said the pair was busy feeding young and thought
we might like to watch them and try to photo-
graph them. We were out the door as soon as we
could grab our equipment and some lunch! What a
delightful few hours we had as we sat and watched
and photographed this colorful pair of birds flying
in and out, fee" their young.
These birds are migratory and arrive in the state,,
during the spring to breed and raise their young.
Then they return to Mexico and Central and South
America in the fall. They nest all across eastern
North America, where their nests are hung by the
rim from low- hanging branches woven from hair,
plant fibers and maybe some string.
The Baltimore oriole was first illustrate d de-
scribed by Mark Catesby in 173 1. It was thought to
have been called an oriole after the Old World oriol
but the Baltimore oriole is actually a small blackbin
The male is brightly colored in orange and black an
the female is a yellow brown with darker wings and
dull orange on its breast and hello
The parents we were watching seemed to have no
difficulty in finding fond for their young. Orioles eat
caterpillars, fruit, insects, spiders and nectar. What
we saw them feeding were small green inchworms.
They were in and out of the nest quickly as food was
so plentiful, often both arriving back at the nest at th
same lame with food in their mouth and having to
decide who would deliver first and then leave quickl,.
so the other could deposit their fresh - caught meal.
While keeping our eyes closely on this busy
Family we began to notice movement in the soft
hanging nest. Sure enough, the young were mov-
g about inside. It was then that we watched as
to female slowly worked her way down into the
Est — all the way into the nest until you could see
sign of her at all. Could she have been cleaning
e nest or just rearranging things to handle the
-owing young? We'll never know. Most birds clean
[eir nests by removing the feces in its mucous sac
id carrying it away from the nest, depositing it in
imeone else's backyard.
The most unusual oriole nest I ever saw was
hen we had sheep in our back pasture. The
•ioles decided to build a unique nest down by the
)nd by taking the wool caught on the fence where
e sheep had been rubbing and weaving it into
i exquisite wool nest. To this day it is hanging in
e Hay Shack up back, where it can be seen as a
minder of how unique Mother Nature is.
If you happen to be lucky enough to have an oriole
!st in your yard or nearby in someone else's yard,
Joy the beauty of these beautifully colored birds
A the uniqueness of their delicately woven nest.
eft: The old - fashioned
range day lily still fights fo
place along the roadside
uring its early- summer
mF
low
The parents we were watching seemed to have no
difficulty in finding fond for their young. Orioles eat
caterpillars, fruit, insects, spiders and nectar. What
we saw them feeding were small green inchworms.
They were in and out of the nest quickly as food was
so plentiful, often both arriving back at the nest at th
same lame with food in their mouth and having to
decide who would deliver first and then leave quickl,.
so the other could deposit their fresh - caught meal.
While keeping our eyes closely on this busy
Family we began to notice movement in the soft
hanging nest. Sure enough, the young were mov-
g about inside. It was then that we watched as
to female slowly worked her way down into the
Est — all the way into the nest until you could see
sign of her at all. Could she have been cleaning
e nest or just rearranging things to handle the
-owing young? We'll never know. Most birds clean
[eir nests by removing the feces in its mucous sac
id carrying it away from the nest, depositing it in
imeone else's backyard.
The most unusual oriole nest I ever saw was
hen we had sheep in our back pasture. The
•ioles decided to build a unique nest down by the
)nd by taking the wool caught on the fence where
e sheep had been rubbing and weaving it into
i exquisite wool nest. To this day it is hanging in
e Hay Shack up back, where it can be seen as a
minder of how unique Mother Nature is.
If you happen to be lucky enough to have an oriole
!st in your yard or nearby in someone else's yard,
Joy the beauty of these beautifully colored birds
A the uniqueness of their delicately woven nest.
eft: The old - fashioned
range day lily still fights fo
place along the roadside
uring its early- summer