When I moved to Wisconsin in 1977, one searched out any report of
Orchard Oriole in southeastern Wisconsin because they were most
definitely uncommon. I remember Mary Donald telling me all the good
spots to look for them in Ozaukee County. They are now much more
common with some feeders (e.g., Dan Panetti's and Tom Uttech's) often
harboring more Orchards than Baltimores.
Since the BBS started in 1966, the rate of increase in WI for this
species is 7.9% annually although this number is not significant for
those into statistics, and in MN the trend is also positive - 2.2%
per year. During the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, Orchard Orioles
were found with some behavior indicating they were breeding in 12% of
the state's quads; they were confirmed in 6%. Records were more or
less uniformly distributed across Wisconsin's southern third of the
state, extending farther northward in the 2 tiers of counties along
Lake Michigan in the east and along the Mississippi River in the west.
Here in southwestern MN, it has been most pleasant to hear an
Orchard's song here and there at the rural homesteads where some of
the BBS stops have been located. It will be interesting to see how
the BBS tracks the population growth of this species over the next 3
decades.
