Orchard Oriole - male, Gill, Franklin Co., MA - June 7th, 2011.The end of my run this morning was greeted by a rich, throaty, warbling song which sounded familiar, but not quite familiar enough for me to be confident about the id of the songster. I ran to the house for bins and camera and then saw the bird fly down towards to the main road to feed in roadside vegetation. It was an Orchard Oriole - my first in our Gill yard. After I grabbed a couple of shaky record shots the bird continued to sing working its way down Main Road, singing from high exposed perches overlooking the meadow. It seemed quite territorial and will hopefully stick around.
I'm not quite sure why the song didn't register as an Orchard Oriole straight away, though it did sound richer and more melodic than my recent experiences in Texas and North Carolina. Anyhow, it was a most welcome surprise after the opening days of June had produced little in the way of new birds with spring migration more or less drawing to a close.
JPS
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