Where to put Oranges for Orioles

What is important more than ever is to always situate orange slices off the ground, first to allow orioles to eat at a safe elevated point, but to also keep ants off the oranges.

Where to put oranges for Orioles would be to stab orange slices or halves on an accessible tree branch; that way you open up the oranges to all birds whilst avoiding messing up bird feeder equipment. You can impale oranges on any Oriole feeder spike or lock orange slices away in a suet cake bird feeder.

If you don't have an oriole feeder in possession right now then you shouldn't be missing out, as there's an opportunity to stabilize orange slices on a tree branch.

No tree branch, no problem... as you can use any shrubs or plants plus there's a chance to impale orange slices on the top tip of a bird feeder pole.

Bird feeder poles are normally where orioles frequent your yard thus we can guarantee the oranges offered to orioles - and few other birds who can eat this citrus fruit - can find the orange slices if its visible and openly accessible to all.

In your yard, orioles are mostly coming to feed on nectar-filled oriole feeders plus their favorite grape jelly they would eat out of pots.

What often goes a miss is oranges which orioles really do like as a source of energy.

Manufacturer's are now on top of this trend as oriole feeders made to hold nectar or jelly, will now often have two orange slice spikes made available.

You can therefore put orange slices or halves alongside nectar or grape jelly or better still, you can prioritize an orange half only oriole feeder to hang off on a branch or spare bird feeder pole bracket.

Orioles are able to perch in an upright position but are less likely to cling at an angle, thus to offer a simple perching area must be where orange slices, wedges or orange halves are situated in your yard.

To stop mostly other common backyard fruit-eating birds taking away the oranges, you can lock them within a suet cage.

With that to consider, the suet cake bird feeder would ideally be leaning or laid on its side to allow orioles to eat, as a hanging suet cake bird feeder - will not be stabilized, so can be made difficult for orioles to use.

Stab orange on branch

Where to put oranges for orioles as your first port of call, is to impale an orange half or slices within nature.

Orioles will normally forage in shrubs or trees in the wild thus your sure to find your local orioles occupying trees in your property. With that, I think its better to stab an orange slice on a tree branch safe enough for orioles to perch.

Pick out a thick, safe branch whilst an adjacent branch on the mature branch would be used to impale the orange, if that makes sense at all.

Other birds who can be seen to eat oranges do frequent trees in nature thus the orange slices is open to all, to those who want to eat or sip on the juice.

To put an orange for orioles on any available tree branch at least this way we can keep the oriole feeder clean of sticky orange juice and residue.

While its near impossible to keep ants out of nectar-filled oriole feeders, at least if we hang oranges in nature - our specialist orange feeders or indeed an oriole feeder with orange spikes - won't be infested with ants wanting to get to the sweet juice.

If indeed your oranges are infested with ants, there could be a way to utilize a Hummingbird feeder ant moat which will be filled with water to stop ants reaching the oranges; which would need to be hung under an ant moat or placed on a feeder which is again, suspended under a hanging-style ant moat.

Impale on Oriole feeder bar

What you may of not realized by now is certain types of orioles feeders come with a special spike to stable half of orange or slices to.

Now you can utilize this spike for usually two orange halves which the best oriole feeders will be made with.

Its simple, cut the orange in half then stab it into the steel spike which will appear to be a thick metal bar - as a matter of oriole safety to prevent orioles impaling themselves.

First you can choose between a nectar-filled oriole feeder where an orange slice can be impaled into the bar that is used to hang off the bird feeder pole. But its not a purpose-made orange spike but you can re-purpose it to stabilize an orange.

Second of all, this same kind of nectar oriole feeder will come with a set of two spikes, of which the oranges will rest on the feeder body near the nectar feeding port wells.

And then there's the option to put orange slices next to grape jelly on what is an oriole orange and jelly feeder combination.

If you only want to commit to feeding orioles oranges only whilst avoiding the fuss of jelly or nectar, then turn to a specialist orange feeder for orioles.

Spikes on any oriole feeder will appear like a steel bar but the thickness is so, because a fine spike can cause harm.

Wedge oranges on bird feeder pole

Where you'd normally hang any oriole feeder would be off a bird feeder pole, yet you can use your oriole feeder as normal whilst utilizing the many areas to impale an orange.

In fact, to impale or if you like, to wedge an orange slice or two between the cross-section of the bird feeding station pole or Shepherd's Hook - would almost guarantee the oranges are visible to all.

Where you put an orange for orioles to feed on does risk going a miss, but there's no chance orange slices will be unseen if situated near to orioles' nectar-filled feeders.

How you would do this is stab the orange half only into any upward facing spike on the very top tip of the bird feeder pole.

It could burst the orange slice open wide but usually narrow spikes are available you can secure a slice on without causing such a sticky mess.

How you would hang oranges for birds would normally be impaled on an oriole feeder hanging directly below on the feeder pole, thus birds only need to perch on top of the pole above to access the orange.

To keep it a little more tidy with the juice kept clean, you may have an opportunity to wedge orange slices in many areas of a bird feeder pole - only you must use orange halves as the thicker cut is easier to lodge in place.

Orange slices in Suet bird feeder

Not so conventional but might be an idea to explore is putting what is orange slices still, in an actual suet cake feeder, intended for well... fatty suet cakes.

Several birds are bound to come to feed on orange juice or eat the flesh, thus to secure the orange slices in a cage feeder - at least then other birds can't steal the whole orange slices of halves.

Simply cut up oranges into two halves or why not in to three or four slices to then lock away in the suet cage bird feeder.

You can hang this suet bird feeder with orange slices in on the bird feeder pole as normal, or within a visible area in a tree. Orioles are less clingy birds on feeders thus to put the suet cake bird feeder on a surface is sure to benefit orioles.

You can lean the suet cage against a tree trunk if hanging in a tree or sit it on top of the bird feeder pole if you can secure it tight.

Birds likely to eat oranges could be Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds, Brown Thrashers, Tanagers and others - as they are all fruit-eating birds after all.

To summarize

Where I believe the best place to put oranges for orioles to access would be to place them on an open, visible tree branch within your yard.

Never feed oranges to orioles or other birds whole when still in its peel. You must cut the orange in two halves, or indeed cut it into multiple slices. How you present an orange to orioles does have its purpose.

Cut an orange in two halves only because then you can impale the halves into what is a spike specifically attached to a nectar-filled oriole feeder.

To cut in half only the thickness can help you secure the orange to prevent it coming lose.

Similarly, you can cut the orange into multiple but still thick slices if you like to impale the orange slices on what would be an available spike on top of the bird feeding station or Shepherd's Hook pole [similar to how its pictured above].

To prevent birds taking the orange slices away rather than sharing it with others, you can lock slices away within a feeder made for suet cakes.

Suet cake bird feeders are ideal to store orange wedges in because most common fruit-eating birds like to eat suet, so they would use it with ease. And if they can't, why not rest the orange slice-filled suet cage on the surface.

Utilize a tree branch in nature to avoid making oriole feeders sticky with orange juice, or utilize an oriole feeder if it makes use of orange spikes to impale slices or halves on.

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