Clark Lake attracts some very interesting birds.  Diane Deming tells the story of visiting orioles and reveals the secret of attracting them.

These two videos show the differences in the male and female Baltimore oriole. The male is brilliantly marked with deep orange and black colors. The female is much lighter in color and slightly smaller. What I have learned through research and observation is that there can be many color variations in both the male and female Baltimore oriole. Two years ago I took pictures of the many orioles that were visiting our feeders during a cool spell in the spring.

After comparing photos I determined that there were 13 different orioles with various color combinations. Research says that immature birds are the most difficult to identify and can be in various stages of color changes. In some cases to correctly identify the gender the wing and tail patterns have to be determined.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/PIZJKjafSbU[/youtube]

If you would like to attract these beautiful birds, take an orange and cut out half of the pulp. Replace with grape jelly and hang in a place where squirrels or raccoons cannot get to the orange. We use copper tubing which can be bent and shaped into a cup to hold the orange. We have had to resort to hanging it from our eaves so no other animals can reach it.

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