This beautiful bird is a harbinger of Spring in the Southwest. It feeds on nectar, fruit and insects in the wild, and it is thus easily attracted to humming bird feeders and orange halves placed out for it, especially in March and April when it first returns from its wintering grounds in Mexico. The long, hanging nest is woven from palm fibers and grass and often suspended in the crown of a palm tree. The Hooded Oriole will maintain its population in suburbs, but only if parasitizing cowbirds do not become too common.
The four-digit banding code is HOOR.
