How to attract Orioles to your yard this time of year

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
One of the guys that really helpedme when I first decided I was into
this sort of thing is a guyby the name of Ken Keffer. Ken
is an author. He's a Ken. How do I describe you exactly?
Like, what would you call yourself? Yeah, I mean author is a
great a naturalist, I think.So the word you're looking for there all
around nature guy, naturalist. That'sa good one, all right. So

(00:20):
and if you look at Ken,you can go to his website Kenkeffer dot
net, which you can find veryeasily. Ken's got all his books there
but also photos, and you couldsay, oh, yeah, that's an
outdoorsy guy right there. I mean, there's just no doubt about it.
So, Ken, how did youget into the outdoors? Before I started
digging into some like real hard hittingquestions, How did you get into this
line of work? Yeah? Certainly. I mean I joked that I was

(00:41):
born fully bearded in Wyoming and sokind of grew rugging outdoors of an out
West and my dad actually taught mehow to hunt, my mom taught me
how to fish, and I justkind of grew up hiking around. We
lived in the prairie, but wewere close to the mountains. I loved
to be an outside. I loveriding my bike, I loved watching,
you know, the first to beingout. So I've kind of always been
into it. And then I actuallydid go to college and have a degree

(01:04):
in wildlife biology and management. Soyeah, kind of turns that into a
career. Yeah, Now you writea bunch of books. Now you do
a lot of speaking, and youhelp people with their birding needs, especially
which is how I started to talkto you about this stuff, and you
helped me try to attract orioles intomy yard for the first time a few

(01:25):
years ago when I first bought myfirst house. So the orioles, they're
a little finicky. We're about theright time here in Omaha, in the
Omaha area to see these guys,certainly. Yeah, yeah, So orioles
are kind of fascinating, kind ofgreat songbirds. They do nest the in
the Omaha area. They're around allsummer, but they're most active and most
likely to come visit a bird feederduring this kind of first wave of migration,

(01:48):
and so they need those quick caloriesafter their big migration and then they'll
shift over to live bugs that they'lleat. But for right now like something
bright orange is going to draw theirattention. They are orange, right,
they can recognize that color and belike, oh that's I could be a
friend, it could be my buddyover there. But also you know it's
going to be tracking them to thefood. I say their preferences are.
They like just grape jelly is aneasy thing for them. You just want

(02:12):
to put a little bit out oftime, though you don't want too much
because I can get in their feathers. It cause problems with like a little
dish, you know, like likelike a little condiment cup of jelly or
slightly bigger oranges. They'll eat theoranges, which is really cool, and
they'll also do sugar water, kindof like hummingbirds do. Yeah, speaking
of orioles and hummingbirds, they're veryinteresting with the way that they eat.
But I've also seen some different birdsthat are kind of hitting that jelly feeder

(02:35):
because I know I'm supposed to havethat out by like tax day or so
to try to make sure I don'tmiss that migration. What other birds would
possibly be attracted to this oriel feederthat I've sat aside? Yeah, yeah,
I mean I think house finches isthe one that's pretty common for folks
to have, kind of that brightredbird that'll come in and eat on some
of that. Another migrant that passesthrough is the gray catbirds, and I've

(02:57):
had catbirds on my jelly in thepast and kind of also seen recently the
rosebreasty krosbeak, kind of a bigbulky fence. It's kind of massive seed
eating bill, but it will alsotake a little slurp of that jelly if
it's out there. So robbins areanother one. Lots of birds, some
of those that don't even eat theseeds will eat some of those other other
foods, so worth having out there. Yeah, for sure. We're talking
to my friend Ken Kaffer. Youcan find his website Kenkaffer dot net.

(03:20):
He's a guy that just knows everythingabout nature and your backyards. The orioles
you mentioned songbirds as they kind ofare migrating through. What are some other
of the key birds that I couldtry to attract in my backyard here that
wouldn't have been around until about rightnow on the calendar. Yeah, certainly,
I mean kind of like some ofthe native sparrows are sort of on

(03:40):
the tail end of migration. I'mstill here. I'm not too far south.
I get kind of the same stuffabout the same time you do.
And so I've been hearing the whitecrowned sparrows and white throated sparrows. They
kind of thing like white crown's oneof my favorites. It goes, I
gotta go wee wee right now.And then the white throated sparrows like,
oh, sweet Canada, Canada,Canada, lovely pure whistle and so,

(04:02):
and that's what the beauty is aboutbirding is, you know, even if
you can't see him right away,they just bring such joy in the mornings
with their calls and stuff. Andso, yeah, migrants are moving through
one of my favorites. They're notgoing to come to your feeders really necessarily.
But the warblers just there's like thirtyfive or so species that you can
get there Nebraska, and they're movingthrough a migration, tiny little birds flitting

(04:24):
about. But the bright colors,they're the yellows, they're oranges, there's
blues. They're just such an incrediblelittle jewels in the sky. And yeah,
now this migration windows, that's timeto see them before they move on
north. Love to hear all thedifferent varieties, And I love to just
kind of go bird watching, becauseyou can't unless your ken who has like
fifty different bird feeders out at atime, You're not going to attract probably

(04:46):
all of them at a time.But I know, for bird feeders and
people who like to feed the birds, it's always kind of a constant battle
with some of the uh rodents andsome of the yells, the small mammals
who might be interested in also havingtheir own little snack that you put out
for the birds. So what aresome ways that you can either deter or

(05:06):
try to kind of resolve some ofthose issues with maybe some squirrels or other
types of uh you know, birdfeeding type animals that might be coming by
the furry the furry birds. Yeah, absolutely so, squirrels, raccoons,
possums perhaps, you know, lotsof those credits can be some people don't

(05:26):
want to hitting those bird feeders,and so there's a couple of solutions.
One of the easiest things, ifpossible, is to get a baffle so
that kind of as like usually acone or like a soovepipe that can keep
critters from crawling up your bird feeder, poll in your separate hook and so
if you can get that high enoughthat the squirrels can't jump up, or
if you're far enough away from atree that they're not jumping down from above,
a baffle is a real great solution. Sometimes you can't get a feeder

(05:50):
and just the right spot, it'sgoing to be too close to the tree
or to the house, and sothat won't work. There are some squirrel
proofs, the mammal proof feeders thatare usually like weight activated and so birds
have hollow booms there are a lotlighter weight and then the mammals, squirrels
kind of that pulls that feeder downand blocks off access. The other real
trick is the hot pepper products.So mammals have receptors and steal that burn

(06:13):
of like a cap sation oil anddon't like it. And birds don't have
the same receptors, and so youcan see like a hot pepper seed or
a hot pepper stew at and itdoesn't hurt the mammals, they just don't
like it, and the birds,yeah, aren't impacted at all. I've
had a lot of success there withthe spicy seed, and I also started
to put when I had a walnuttree and the squirrels just love to be

(06:34):
in and around that putting like akind of deterrent feed out, like a
deterrent like an easy to access squirreltreat or something, and they would and
then then the chipmunks and they'd come, and little mice would come and eat
off that thing. It's really coolto kind of see them interact as well.
Were speaking with Ken Keffer. Heis an author in a Naturalist.

(06:55):
You can find out more about himKenkeffer dot net. Do want to ask
about the, you know, situationwith blue jays as well, how some
people email me about blue jays.Now, I love blue jays and I
have big peanuts that I put outin my feeder for them to come eat.
But apparently a lot of people thinkthat they're the big meanies of the

(07:15):
bird world and they don't really likehaving them around. Can you kind of
try to either set the record straightor confirm one side of the other about
people in their perceptions of the bluejay. Yeah, certainly, I'm definitely
with you. I'm team blue jay, But I do understand some of the
people's frustrations. And so when bluejays come to feeders, yeah, they're
hitting that, you know, likethe whole peanut, like U fee's a

(07:36):
great thing. They'll come in,they're big, they kind of squawk.
Some of the littler birds might scatterinitially. But the thing about blue jays
is usually they come in, theydine and dash right, they grab a
seed, they haul it off.If you put out a couple of dozen
peanuts, they're gonna grab those.They're gonna work through in about five minutes,
and then they're gonna move on.And so they're not camping out on
your feeders all day every day,and so I enjoy having them. I

(08:00):
like seeing them come in. Butthe other thing that's really cool and people
forget about is blue jays act islike a good sentinel. So they're kind
of got their eyes on the wholeneighborhood. And if like a predator shows
up, the blue jays can squawk, and it's a different alert call than
the just the normal blue jays andsaying hey, like I'm eating over here.
They've got an alarm call that thenlets all the other blue jays and
all the other birds know that,hey, look for cover. You know,

(08:22):
there's a predator out there. Andso to me, the blue jays
are kind of the heroes of thebackyard love to hear that, you know,
go blue jays. The blue jaysis awesome. I know, you
know nature's going to nature, butI just love the way they look through
such is awesome. Big you knowbackyard birds that you can get Ken Kaffer
dot net for all these what's someof the projects that you have working on?

(08:43):
And how what can people find whenthey head to your website? Yeah,
certainly, you know kind of I'vegot like Earth Almanac kind of is
the greatest hits of Nature, Ilike to call it. And I've got
a tree book that I'm pretty proudof too, out right now. Pretty
easy to find. It's right onthe front page. You can see,
Uh, there's a link right thereto all the books. And then Ken,
I can't let you go without asking. I actually met Ken, not

(09:05):
about anything bird related or anything,but he was actually teaching people how to
curl, like you know, theice sport curling. How's the curling career
going for you? Curling's going good. I don't have access to a local
club right now, but I stillbond feel I still get out and hit
tournaments every winter. You guys havea great curling club there in Omaha.
So I should come visit you.I should come curl with Unix winner.

(09:26):
Yeah, I just get let meknow and we'll find a place to get
get on the ice. And Ididn't they have like the US Championships or
something year not that long ago.Yeah, indeed they did. I watched
all that online. Yeah. See, this is the most interesting man in
the world. Ken Keffer here,naturalist and expert curler. Buddy, thanks
so much for being a part ofthe show. I'm happy to talk to
you here on my Omaha show.We'll be doing this again soon. Always

(09:48):
a pleasure, and you take care, buddy, Absolutely Ken Keffer dot net.
That's k E n K E Ff E R dot net. Awesome
dude, great stuff. If you'reinterested in backyard birds and every thing,
we'll talk more about that coming upbecause I have my own little story and
I'm going to need your help.Stick around on news radio eleven ten KFAB

(10:09):
and Marie Song on news Radio eleventen KFAB. I've been told that my
feeder is in a spot that,you know, for the experts to tell
me, because I don't want tomiss them. I just love looking at
them. For the two or threeweeks, you really get a good look
at them. And I've been toldthat my spot is good for my feeder.

(10:31):
They should be able to see itand react to it and enjoy some
of that jelly. But I needyou to help me. So if you're
in Omaha and you are seeing orioles, I need your help. Let me
know that you're seeing them, andI will double check my feeders the best
that I can so I can seewhat kind of activity that we're having.

(10:52):
But I'm just I'm you only havea small window, Matt. I'm deathly
afraid that I'm gonna miss it.So if you got if you're seeing an
oriole, let me know by emailingme emoryatkfab dot com, Emory at kfab
dot com, or you can goahead and message me on any of the
or posts at me on any ofthe social media platforms. Find me there.

(11:13):
It's important. The cardinals are aroundthe whole time, you know what
I mean? I could see thecardinal all all bird season long. The
oriole. Ugh, it's this tinylittle window here. Have you ever seen
an oriole nice up closer in person? I have, Yes, they're majestic.

(11:35):
They really are that orange and theblack. I mean, there is
some majestic bird. I love them. I saw an oriole out at the
Lords and Gardens Win. This wouldhave been a couple of years back.
Okay, this was not like thisweek. Otherwise it would have been like
you're holding back on me, youknow, yeah, a couple of years
ago. Yeah, So I justneed I need confirmation I have some central
eye with people. Because I talkedabout this on my show The Eye was
show that I'm doing, and peopleimmediately started sending me like, oh yeah,

(11:58):
just out of the one I sawthe you know this week, and
I'm like, okay, okay,so they're seeing it. Latitude wise,
we got to be close. ButI'm just not seeing them yet. But
I also know one year I didn'tsee my first one until like the second
week of May. So I don'tknow. I need your help. If
you're seeing them, let me know. Right here is the Orioles are migrating
through email Emory at kfab dot com, or shoot me a message somewhere on

(12:20):
social media. By the way,did you see what happened at the Diamondbacks
baseball game last night? A bcolony took over home plate? Like behind
home plate? They delayed the startof the game, and they had to
call in a like expert beekeeper,and then the beekeeper was able to rescue
the colony, and then they hadthe beekeeper throughout the first pitch. Nice

(12:41):
the game started like an hour anda half later. But like only in
America and only at a baseball game, with something that wild and crazy happened.
But it's funny stuff. We headedto the four o'clock out. We're
gonna have some more fun. Gonnagive you some updates on these protests because
more things are happening. Fordham University. They're going for it right now,

(13:01):
and uh maybe we'll laugh a littlebit along the way. Stick with us
on news radio eleven ten KFAB andMarie's songer on news radio eleven ten KFAB.
You're seeing an oriole. I wantto know about where because then I
can figure out maybe about where theyare going to be and when they're going
to come through Omaha. So hLinda embles In says, my husband has

(13:24):
not been patiently waiting for them,and it happened yesterday. We're in Wahoo,
thirty miles west of Omaha, andthat's that's that's awesome. Good to
see that. Lisa emailed in andsaid, I lived just north of Crescent,
Iowa, and saw my first orioltoday and heard the call, ran
outside. They loved those jellies andoranges. Yeah, jellies and oranges.

(13:45):
Man, it's so cool. Andthen Joe said, I live in La
Vista and haven't seen any orioles yet, and I've heard the same from my
bird people in Omaha. So keepingmy eyes peeled. And that's the thing.
We got to help each other outwith the orioles. Matt. If
anybody calls, what's some orial information? You have a right to let me
know. Not a right you have, you have a duty, a responsibility.

(14:09):
Yes, you have to let meknow, all right. Put on
a map, maybe in like thelittle dots in the map where we've had
confirmed sightings. Yes, until Isee mine, that's what we were doing,
So get on it, all right, All right, there you go.
When if you told the student,when is the student ever told the
coach exactly what to do? Itprobably doesn't work out too well, too

(14:30):
awful much, all right. Yeah, By the way, if you ever
want to call us, you canfour oh two five five eight eleven ten
four oh two five five eight eleventen is the phone number. You can
also email me at any time withanything that you're looking for, and the
email is Emery E M E ry at kfab dot com. E M
E r y at kfab dot com. You can also follow me on all

(14:50):
social media accounts. I put picturesand all that stuff up about what I
got going on in my life.And trust me, if I see an
oriole at my feeder, I'm goingto try to cap it and put it
on my social media. Got Tedon a phone line of four two five
five eight eleven ten. Hello,Ted? What do you think about this?
Emory? They're in my backyard.They've been in my backyard for about

(15:11):
a week. When did you putyour feeders up two weeks ago? Okay,
well you're on you're on track.They they're there, they're probably eating
it right now. You probably gotprobably got catbirds, You probably got orioles.
Yeah. Now see, I've onlyI've seen catbirds at a feeder in
the Moines. Here in Omaha.It's house finches have just been all over

(15:35):
the place in my seed feeder andin the oriel feeder. When I put
it up a couple of weeks ago, I haven't seen anything else. So,
so Ted, where kind of likeyou don't have to tell me your
address or anything, but like wherespecifically, like what neighborhood are you in?
Well, I don't know. Doyou have Do you have three greyhounds?
Emory? Yeah? Do you?Then you must live in midtown I

(15:56):
do, Okay, so I Iam not far from Washington School. Oh
boy, yeah, okay, Well, if you're seeing them and I should
be seeing them, well, they'rethey're there. I I there's a couple
other people in my my group thatwatch them. They've been seeing well,

(16:17):
I've seen them at my mom's housein Eagle, Nebraska. We've had him
and we've got four or five thatare visiting regularly. Oh boy, and
yeah, okay, all come well, I hope. So this is making
me nervous that I'm missing my missingmy uh miss my birds. Here.
Well, Ted, if you seeif you see me in my three grounds
walking around the neighborhood, feel freeto say, hey, man, well

(16:40):
I think I think I saw yourwife with them one day. Okay,
yeah, that's also possible. Yeah, you can't miss them, I mean
three greyhounds. What are the odds? Right? Yeah, that's what I
figured it had to be you.All right, You're you're in the right
neighborhood. They're around, Okay,just keep putting it out there. They'll
be fine. All right, he'sgot I'll tell you another thing about them.

(17:02):
Okay, they're actually more of themin the fall migration than in the
spring migration. Okay. I'll beon the lookout for that, and I'll
make sure to keep your feeeder out. But well, I'm sure we'll talk
about this as the year goes on, to ted, because now that I
know people are actually into this,I'm definitely gonna want to talk about it
more. Appreciate you calling it,man, all right, have a good

(17:23):
day, you too. We gotKevin on the line. Kevin, you're
with Emory on news radio eleven tenkfab. Yeah, hey, Amy,
just seeing a few of them outin Greton, out near that New highde
in that neighborhood. There's a fewof them flying around. So yeah,
okay, So Greton, that's tothe west of Omaha. And and you're

(17:44):
how long you've been seeing them forthe last week or so. I'm getting
itchy now, I'm getting real itchy. All right, Okay, Kevin,
I appreciate the update. I'll uh, it sounds like they're everywhere they need
to be for them to land inmy in my yard, but I haven't
seen him yet. I appreciate thecall man. All right, thanks Matt.
Jay is on our phone line offour h two five five, eight

(18:06):
eleven ten. Hello Jay, whatare you thinking about? Hey? Hey,
I Mary. How you doing today? Good man? What's up?
Well? I saw my first oriel. I live about six miles north of
Columbus, Nebraska, Okay, andI saw the first Baltimore male Baltimore oorl
yesterday morning. Oh so, Imean they're fresh. I mean the they
are just getting here right now,is what you're saying. Oh yeah,

(18:29):
they're they're on their way. ThatMy mom used to tell me that the
males show up versus out, andfemales show up later. And I've gotten
older, I realized that's true.Oh boy, okay, sounds good.
I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying theseconversations. And this is why I fetched
this out to or farm this outto everybody, because I knew because I'm

(18:51):
brand new in the area, notexactly when they're coming, but I just
I don't want to miss him becauseI like to see him, and I
got my feet are in such acool spot now in my Omaha house that
I can see them right out myliving room. They just got a land
there so I can take a goodpeek. But Jay, it sounds like
they're on their way if they haven'tgotten to me already, and I appreciate
you for calling in today. They'reon their way. It's early. You'll

(19:11):
get them. Another thing that's funto do is put out nesting materials for
them and put out orange yarn,and then you can see where they're building
their nest. Debt. You'll findan orange yarn up in the tree,
and then you see that there's theirnests. Love it, love it.
I would love to get some nestingnearby because then that basically confirms that they're
going to keep coming back. Appreciatethat, Jay, Thanks for calling in,

(19:32):
Thanks for taking the call. Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah
you too. Had some more emailscoming in about birds and people who are
looking for them and letting me knowthat they either have or have not.
Can you remind me where Columbus isin Nebraska. Columbus is north west of

(19:53):
here, it is. If it'snorth of here, then dang Like they
definitely have to be in the area. Yeah, so it's gonna be northwest
of here, and it's gonna bea little bit west of Fremont, Okay.
But but it's not that far awayfrom Omaha, not too far.
I hits right about this. Ithink it's about fifty minutes from here if
it's north at all of Omaha.They have to be in the area.

(20:15):
They just have to. And itsounds like the last day or two is
when they're they're they're getting here.Jim's on our phone line four O two
five five, eight eleven ten.Hello Jim, Hello, Hey, what's
up? Uh? What or not? If you guys talked about the Purple
Martins yet, I haven't actually talkedabout Purple Martin. I've seen Purple Martins

(20:36):
in my backyard though. I startedabout four years ago, and it took
me about two years to finally getthem to keep coming back yearly. Yeah,
and talk about an awesome bird anda mated pair to come and watch.
You get about I got about fivefive pairs the the mail in the

(21:00):
hand, yeah, and the waythey interact and the way their calls are
in the mornings, and the waythey chirp to each other is just just
crazy cool. Yeah, okay.And on top on top of that,
Jim, I find I see itat but the golf course I would go
to all the time in Des Moines, they had this giant house that was

(21:22):
way up there and you could seethem, especially at dusk when they were
a little more active as well,and I was like, what is that
burden? I figured out it wasa purple Martin. How are you getting
them in your backyard? Well,I started out just by buying a house
at local apartment store. So allup, keep going, keep going.

(21:42):
It's it's a house with the Ithink I've got six on each side.
So it's a twelve how a twelveroom half moons and we've got aluminum pull
on it. It's about fifteen footin the air, right, and you
got to kind of have you gottakind of have it open space. They
like to fly out in a fieldand and they could come back and they

(22:07):
like to fly out and get dragonflies. And what they'll do is you'll they'll
stuff that whole dragonfly into their themouth of the little ones as the little
ones come out of the hole.And they stuffed great big dragonfly, you
know, three inches wide. Theystuff that whole thing in the mouth and
then they come back every year.I put my pole away in the winter

(22:30):
and they came back the other dayand they were flying hovering right where it
used to be. So I said, oh, crap, I can need
to get my house out. Iput it out and they were there the
next day. There was like threepairs. Really cool. Yeah, So
with purple Martin, sounds like youneed the purple Martin house and get that

(22:52):
up and then they'll come. Thatsounds awesome. Jim appreciate it. Yep,
you bet. I love hearing that. Well, if you got any
bird information and you see an oriole, I'd love for you to share that
information with me on my email Emeriat kfab dot com or on my social
media and when I see one,and I'm gonna see one, I'm going
to throw that up on my socialmedia as well. Here, hopefully in
the next couple of days, assumingI can actually sit there watch it and

(23:15):
see these orioles come by. Rightnow, it is four nineteen. Got
some more information latest that is comingout of New York City with these crazy
anti Israel protesters, and we'll dothat coming up next on news Radio eleven ten kfab