Meet the Baltimore Oriole

With in-house knowledge and skills we are uniquely equi85pped to marry our horticulture and conservation practices to better understand the dynamics and to implement management strategies within these fragmented forests. These management strategies will help improve the overall aesthetic experience in the Arboretum Core, creating visually appealing transitions between highly cultivated gardens and natural lands. They will also have the potential to demonstrate how private landowners can improve their own forests, thus impacting forest health broadly throughout our communities.

Image courtesy of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio’s Statewide Forest Action Plan, Natural Resource Assessment. A total of 85% (6,778,000 acres) of forest land in Ohio is privately-owned. The other 15% is owned by governments or in public holding. Most of that privately-owned forest is in the hands of individuals or families, and small, privately-owned woodlands less than 10 acres in size account for approximately 1.15 million acres in Ohio. The takeaway? Private landowners hold most of our state’s wooded land and thus most forest stewardship rests in their hands. Increasingly, Ohio forests are being fragmented and owned in smaller and smaller units. Research has shown that separated and discontinuous forest units reduce animal and plant diversity and make areas more vulnerable to environmental threats. This makes small woodland owners more important than ever for the future of Ohio’s woodlands.

Economical & Sustainable Clean-up

By Rob Maganja, Horticulturist

On the ground we’ve encountered less-than-ideal weather, pandemic challenges and have had to coax the woodchipper into action. These hurdles serve to grow collaborative relationships, and over more than a year of action we’re really getting into a groove. We’re currently working on the Core Natural Area due east of the 2-acre Butterfly Garden. Especially in October and early November, when the temperatures were a little warmer, the effort to drag brush hundreds of feet and even up elevated and sometimes muddy inclines was impressive.

Probably the most delicate aspect of the operation is the disposal strategy for all the waste material we generate. We all agree that the most important disposal strategy is one where we’re spreading the invasives as little as possible. While there are legitimate options to leave or remove the waste material for disposal elsewhere, for now we’re leaving the waste material on-site.

Work is ongoing in that Core Natural Area, the most inundated of the sites. Once that is complete, we’ll have a nice template for how to do every future site in as economical and sustainable of a way as possible. We will share this with our guests and community homeowners to consider for their own backyard fragmented forest habitat.

Based on joint experience, we need about two years to manage invasives and their seedbanks before restoration planting can occur. At that point, we aim to introduce many native plants that can hold their own or repress aggressive invasives. Agroforestry elements will start to creep into the design palette; both native and non-aggressive exotic edible plants will be favored; maybe even hearken to our rural surroundings and explore how livestock and perennial plantings can go hand-in-hand; plant windbreaks to create microclimates for plants more suited for a slightly-warmer growing zone; include nearly-forgotten practices like coppicing and pollarding; use plants that can adapt to our changing climate. The list of possibilities goes on.

In short, the Core Natural Areas act as bridges between our cultivated garden and high-quality forest communities to demonstrate an ecosystem continuum on which private lands throughout the state can be modeled on.

MEET THE STAFF

Caroline Tait isthe Vice President of Horticulture and Collections. Caroline began her career propagating perennials at Coton Manor Gardens in Northamptonshire, England, voted the UK’s favorite garden in 2019. Designing gardens for shows and clients took her all over the the UK, until 2018 when she was selected from a global pool of candidates for the yearlong residential Fellows Leadership Program at Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia.

Baltimore Oriole

Icterus galbula

By Rebecca Thompson, Manager of Academic Programs

Baltimore orioles have adapted to human settlement. The vibrant orange color of the males makes them easy to spot in open woodlands like parks, orchards and backyards. Their clear, flute-like whistled songs are commonly heard high in leafy deciduous trees.

Baltimore orioles are acrobatic feeders hanging upside down on tree branches searching for insects, nectar and fruit. They can also snatch flying insects in midair. Their diet consists mainly of invertebrates, including beetles, grasshoppers, moths, flies, spiders and snails. Unlike most birds, they even eat hairy pest caterpillars. They forage on a variety of berries and sometimes cultivated fruit. Unlike other fruit-eating birds, Baltimore orioles prefer only ripe, dark-colored fruit. Both males and females frequently visit bird feeders supplied with fruit (orange halves), jelly (grape) or nectar (sugar-water) in spring, late summer and early fall.

During the courtship in spring, males hop around the females, bowing forward and spreading their wings. The female responds by fanning her tail, fluttering, lowering her wings and making a chattering call. Once females choose the males and nesting sites, male Baltimore orioles defend small areas only around their nests.

Baltimore orioles prefer Elm trees but build their nest in other trees such as cottonwoods and maples. Sock-like hanging nests are constructed mainly by the female in four to eight days. Pouches are firmly attached to the fork of branches 25 to 30 feet high. Nests are three to six inches deep and are woven out of slender plant fibers, including barks, grapevine and grass. The nests can even include synthetic yarn and string. Nests are lined with fine grass, plant down and animal hair. Females will often recycle plant fibers from an old nest to build a new one.

Females lay four to five pale gray to white or bluish-white eggs. Eggs are speckled with black and bluish-purple markings, mostly at larger ends. Females incubate the eggs from 12 to 14 days. Young leave the nest 12 to 14 days after hatching. Both parents feed the nestlings.

Baltimore orioles are widespread and common. However, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, their populations are declining. Canada has experienced the most significant loss, with 3% per year since 1966. Baltimore orioles, like other birds, are vulnerable to deforestation and habitat loss. Habitat loss in both breeding and wintering grounds is one of the top reasons for bird population decline.

SIZE: 6.7-8 inches

WINGSPAN: 9-11.5 inches

DESCRIPTION: Adult males bright orange breast, solid-black head, and black with one white bar on their black wings. Females and immature males dull yelloworange breast and rump, faint black-gray head and back; two white wing bars. RANGE: Breeding Nearctic, Canadian Prairies and eastern Montana in the northwest; eastward through southern Ontario, south through the eastern United States to central Mississippi and Alabama and northern Georgia. Winters predominantly in Central America and northern South America

VOICE CALL: Both male and female rapid chatter Song: slow, loud, flute-like two notes repeated two to seven times

BEST LOCATION TO VIEW:

Arboretum: Display Garden Garden: Topiary and Hershey Children’s Garden

MEET THE STAFF

Rebecca Thompson is the Academic Programs Manager at Holden Forests & Gardens and has dedicated her career (1999 – present) to school-aged children and life-long learners.Her enthusiasm for the natural world has kindled a sense of exploration, discovery and a deeper appreciation for the environment. Her passion for bird watching drove her to become a self-taught local bird expert. She has served as President on local boards, including Blackbrook Audubon Society and Cleveland Regional Council of Science Teachers.