Keeping in the theme of birds enjoying a bath, one afternoon this week I noticed two orioles in the bird bath.
By the time I got my camera and returned there was one in the bath and another observing. As you can see, Daddy was busy out on the feeder stuffing his face with grape jelly.
I don’t know if these two are this year’s juveniles or last years young ones, or maybe two females just enjoying a relaxing spa day.
But it was sure was fun to watch the one in the bath splash around.
So I’ll share the rest of these without comment. Enjoy.
I have other photos of this week’s shenanigans in my back yard, but those will have to wait for another day.
Edit: I was just outside to hang the oriole feeder up after cleaning it and refilling it with grape jelly. One of the two bathers was back, standing on the railing. He (or she) started flapping it’s wings at me, supposing that maybe I had something to feed it. So I think these two really are juveniles, and not adult females. So cute!
Change Is Hard 
June 20, 2025 at 8:43 am
How fun are these? Very!!
Have a great weekend, Dawn!
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June 20, 2025 at 9:34 am
You too, Dale!
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June 20, 2025 at 9:40 am
Thank you!
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June 20, 2025 at 9:03 am
The joys of having the bath all to yourself! How fun was this to watch?!
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June 20, 2025 at 9:35 am
So fun! And one of them was back this morning just a few minutes ago. Flapping it’s wings at me asking for food. I was holding the feeder because I had just cleaned it and refilled it, had been headed out to hang it back up when I saw the little one on the railing all put out.
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June 20, 2025 at 9:51 am
Dawn–you are the bird whisperer. Your bird photos never cease to amaze me.
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June 20, 2025 at 9:09 am
So cute! What great action shots you got! Were you outside with them taking these shots? What lens did you use?
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June 20, 2025 at 9:38 am
I was inside, shooting through a window. I used my regular walk around lens, 28-400, probably at close to 400. Nikon Z6iii. Maybe not all the way out to 400, I wasn’t that far away. But these are also slightly cropped.
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June 20, 2025 at 8:23 pm
Fun! As far as I can tell, the birds never take baths in our birdbath. Instead, they use it for taking drinks.
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June 21, 2025 at 2:11 pm
We get a lot of drinking too, from the birds and the chipmunks and squirrels. But I do see a fair amount of bathing…if I can keep them full. I swear it either evaporates or gets splashed out or drunk just about every day. I’m always refilling…they’re just lucky I enjoy watching them so I’m constantly looking out there and notice when it’s empty.
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June 20, 2025 at 10:32 pm
It’s always fun to watch birds splashing in the bird bath, even in a puddle on the street. They really get into it, especially in the hot weather. Do the juveniles eat grape jelly too? I wonder if the parents feed them the jelly when they are so young or just bugs and grubs?
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June 21, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Yes they love the grape jelly too. Also oranges if I have them out there. But they’ll eat the jelly before they’ll go after the oranges I guess just like kids. Usually every year about this time daddy will come to the feeder with a few kids and show them the ropes. Sometimes they sit on the feeder and let dad or mom feed them. They are lazy! As we move into July I’ll see several young ones there pretty much all the time, then as we get closer to the end of the month they’ll be there without their folks, pigging out, and then dad shows up and shoos them all away so he can eat in peace. He’s not very patient with them for long.
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June 21, 2025 at 9:26 pm
That’s really something. I have never seen Baltimore Orioles around where I live, though we do have them in Wayne County. My former Flame Furnace tech owns a Wild Birds Unlimited store and he and his wife have every type of feeder in their backyard (good advertising), including the ones with a camera and he posts pics on his FB site. I think that’s funny with Dad showing them how to eat the jelly or oranges and they still expect to be fed. Dads don’t have as much patience as Moms when it comes to teaching or eating when it comes to their offspring I guess. Mom’s stomach probably growls while she is feeding her young ones, but they eat first.
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June 20, 2025 at 10:57 pm
Makes me want to take a bath!! 🙂
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June 21, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Well, I might have to find a bigger bird bath then. But this is the time of year to do it, gonna be close to 100 these next few days here.
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June 21, 2025 at 9:14 pm
Ha! 🙂 Ok, let me know when the bigger bird bath is in and I’ll be on my way. Fun stuff, Dawn, thank you.
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June 21, 2025 at 11:03 am
Beautiful shots, Dawn! What fun to capture their bathing antics and expressions!
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June 21, 2025 at 2:14 pm
They are so much fun to watch. We eat out in the breakfast room and watch the bird bath. Often in the evening some little bird comes for a bath. Sometimes a whole line of them if it’s especially hot out.
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June 21, 2025 at 3:02 pm
We do something similar from our back patio. We can stalk the birds from under the gazebo 🙂
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June 21, 2025 at 1:22 pm
Nicely captured! Poor birds almost look like they’re asking for a bit more privacy though. Can’t you imagine how great it must feel to them, washing off on a hot day?!
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June 21, 2025 at 2:15 pm
Yes, I think the bird bath is as much a draw for them as the feeders…though I think it’s the feeders that bring them in first. Then they discover the water and they’re all in. Literally.
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June 21, 2025 at 2:05 pm
What great photos! Thank you for sharing! 💕
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June 21, 2025 at 2:15 pm
You are so welcome!
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June 21, 2025 at 9:02 pm
Hi, Dawn – I love those photos of the birds’ spa day. And now, I definitely want to see the photo of this week’s shenanigans in the back yard!
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June 21, 2025 at 10:33 pm
I just finished editing photos from my Alabama trip, which was 2 or 3 weeks ago…and next I’ll start on the other shenanigans images. But I’m leaving Monday for 3 days of camping so I’ll be accumulating even MORE images that will need processing…it feels like I am forever behind.
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June 22, 2025 at 4:51 am
Loving your bird pics!
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June 22, 2025 at 12:51 pm
Thank you, me too! I feel really privileged that they hang out with me here.
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June 22, 2025 at 9:52 am
Goodness, these are charming pictures. You are so lucky to have orioles in your yard. I need to try to attract them as well.
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June 22, 2025 at 12:52 pm
I’m very lucky. Every year I wonder if they’ll be back…and every year, for the past manyyears, they’ve arrived promptly the first week of May. The adults leave sometime in August, which seems way too early to me. Their young ones hang around gobbling grape jelly for awhile longer. Some years I think they’re gone and I put away the feeder and then a laggard will show up pouting and I put it all back out again.
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