We observed an adult female Baltimore oriole attack and possibly kill a female Ruby-throated hummingbird this morning, before flying off with the hummingbird in her bill. The attack occurred within a foot or so of a sugar-water hummingbird feeder where both birds had been feeding. We didn't witness the capture, but had been watching the activity around the feeders when we noticed the oriole perched, with the hummingbird pinned against a branch with her feet, jabbing at the smaller bird with her bill. She did this for maybe 15 seconds and then flew off to a favorite nesting tree 100 feet away, after which we lost sight of her.
We have two sugar-water feeders, two suet cages, and a big bowl of jelly all within maybe 30 feet of each other. We have at least six each of orioles, hummingbirds and catbirds (among others) regularly visiting and occasionally getting scrappy with each other, but this is the first we've observed anything like this. We wondered if it may have been simply a territorial/food resource dispute. On the other hand to an oriole a hummingbird may be as good as a big fat bug. Anyone know of any other accounts like this?
Dave Cowan
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
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