Attract migrating Baltimore orioles with their favourite food — oranges. The beautiful songbirds love pecking at the juice and pulp of the fruit.
These are the materials you need to make 1 orange feeder:
1 orange, halved
twine or string
2 twigs 8″ long and about the width of small straw
A knife to slice and pierce the skin of the orange
Instructions to make a simple zero-waste bird feeder:
- Cut an orange in half and use a knife to poke two small holes around the base.
2. Thread a twig through the orange peel, with the fruit side up, and set the twig with a few inches on either side of the orange to provide a perch for the birds.
3. Add small slits in the top to tie twine through for hanging. Make sure the wire is threaded all the way around the top and middle part of the orange close to the peel, but deep enough inside to support the weight of the orange and bird.
4. Find a sheltered place to hang your feeder and enjoy the bird show.
Baltimore orioles also eat beetles, grasshoppers and spiders. Keep them around your yard and garden throughout the summer by adding fruit trees like mulberries and cherries — and, because they are lethal to birds, avoid spraying pesticides on the trees and in your garden.
