Competition at the feeder -- Hummers/Orioles (1 Viewer)

I've noticed that while hummingbirds and orioles can coexist at the same feeders, one or the other becomes dominant and drowns out the other bird type. Our feeders have been dominated by Hooded Orioles 3:1 the last few years. But my friend's feeders a couple miles away are dominated by Hummingbirds at least 5:1, especially in the evenings where orioles are nowhere to be seen.

As much as we enjoy the orioles, more hummingbirds would be nice. I'm sure I could attract more hummingbirds but would this send the orioles packing?

It would be interesting to find out, for sure. I'd suggest you give it a go.

One thing I've noticed here in southeast Arizona with hummingbirds - if you only have a few, one male will try to dominate the feeder. As soon as you get to a critical mass of about five or six per feeder, the dominant bird gives up and you'll see less fighting as they are forced to cooperate with one another. Two hummingbirds can have a hard time sitting at the same feeder. Not so much with six, seven or eight.

I've noticed the exact same phenomenon. We have a willow tree that mitigates this problem to some extent. Both bird types use it as a staging area until the feeder is clear. Really kind of funny to watch.

Do you have any experience with jelly feeders or oranges? I wonder if the orioles would be more inclined to feed off the jelly or oranges, leaving the sugar water feeders open for the hummingbirds?

I put out both oranges and grape jelly and have had orioles coming in to both (as well as a bunch of other birds). The orioles will still visit the hummingbird feeders though. You can get specialized oriole nectar feeders, so I wonder if that might tempt them to stay away from the hummer feeders?

Do you mean the feeders that are orange, not red, but otherwise identical or very close to it?

Does the orange vs. red color matter all that much?