We were able to lower seed prices! With the exception of nuts, all the seed prices came down. Some, like safflower, we lowered by $10.00 for a 20 lbs. bag. If you were priced out of feeding the birds a few years ago when seed prices rose sharply, then now is your time to get back into it. As always, the Wild Bird Company has the highest quality and freshest seed around. Don't feed your birds junk food!
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Wild Bird Company
Quick Links
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Xcel Energy
Bird Cams
Osprey Cam
from Earth Cam
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| Osprey ©Wendy Marie Stuart |
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Wild Bird Company Saturday Bird Walk
(Every Saturday morning for our Colorado Birders)
Bird Watchers (that's us)
From 7:30 am (promptly)
to 10:30 am (approximately)
Every Saturday year-round. No reservations required. Every last Saturday of the month we travel further afield than normal and return a little later. Bird Walk locations are determined on the morning of the walk. All ages and birding abilities are welcome!
Meet at Wild Bird Company
1641 - 28th St., Boulder, CO 80301
Call for more info: 303-442-1322
Weekly Bird Walk Slide Shows
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I know many of you really love receiving the Facebook postings, weekly bird list and slide show emails and/or the monthly newsletter emails. Please consider sharing or forwarding these emails and postings to your friends interested in nature. I would really appreciate getting these educational postings to a wider audience.
Thanks for the help.
--Steve
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Some of you may have seen our new sign and logo or noticed our new name. After many years as a franchise store, we have gone independent and changed our name to Wild Bird Company. We look forward to a continued relationship with our customers, increasing our brick-and-mortar and electronic inventories, greater educational resources, and so many other plans. Thank you all for making the last 29 years so memorable. I look forward to more good times. --Steve
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Make Your Own Breaks!
by Steve Frye
My college roommate Roube used to say "Sly, you've got to make your own breaks". He meant things don't always happen completely by chance, having fortune smile on you requires putting yourself in a position where you can take advantage of what life brings. He was usually referring to school or women when he made this statement, but I think it works well for bird watching. You've got to make your own breaks.
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Snowy Owl ©Kevin Rutherford
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We have had some good fortune on the bird walk lately. On January 20th, I announced to the Saturday Birders, as we were gathered to go out for the morning, "we are going to look for a snowy owl this morning". One of the group facetiously remarked "not another snowy owl chase". You see, we had looked for the snowy owl that was frequenting Stanley Lake in Westminster the month before, but we dipped as some birders say, we didn't see the bird. I fell into the bird walk leader trap of announcing that you are just going after one
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Snowy Owl ©Kevin Rutherford
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particular species. If you don't see that bird, then it's hard for the walk not to seem a failure. Anyway, on the 20th I tempered my announcement by saying we were going to go to places where it would be more probable to see a snowy, and if we didn't see it, we would find plenty of other great birds. The risk of dipping on the owl was great because I had never seen a snowy owl in Boulder County. Within a few minutes of arriving at Boulder Reservoir, I spotted
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Snowy Owl ©Neal Zaun
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what looked like a melting snowman on the ice about half a mile away. A very curious lump. We walked down to the Reservoir and put the scopes on it, a snowy owl. After a few minutes of reveling in our find, we saw another lump on the ice. A second snowy! What are the odds of that? To add to our luck, one of the birds flew right at us, passed us, and landed on some sailboats grounded for the winter. We enjoyed some nice views of this owl and
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Snowy Owl ©Kevin Rutherford
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it was a pleasure being in its presence. Both of these owls spent the day at the Reservoir and they both moved on by the next day. Snowy owls are known for their nomadic behavior and these two were no exception.
A couple of weeks after the snowies, again on the Saturday Bird Walk, we were having a rather lackluster outing. The wind had been with us all morning so the birds were hunkered down just like most people. Why battle the wind if you don't have to (unless you're a bird watcher). We decided to stop by one of the places I visit going to and from work.
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Northern Goshawk
©Kevin Rutherford
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Bird watchers often refer to these little pockets of habitat as local patches. This local patch of mine is where Nimbus Road crosses over Left Hand Creek, just west of Niwot. We saw a few good things at this stop including a distant and very camouflaged great horned owl, but still not a lot of birds. I said my good byes to the group and climbed into the car heading for the Wild Bird Company to start the retail portion of my day. As I was driving off, I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed some of the Saturday Birders looking up into the trees. This was not a casual scanning or glancing, something about the intensity of their gazing combined with the unity of their focus told me they had found something. I put the car in reverse and backed up quite a ways until I was just about where they were. One of the group came around to show me the back of her camera. It looked like an immature northern
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Northern Goshawk
©Neal Zaun
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goshawk! I quickly got out to investigate. Sure enough, they had found a northern goshawk. It had flown in just as we were getting set to leave. I have seen goshawks in Boulder County on many occasions in the summer in the mountains, but never on the plains in winter. Serendipity had smiled on us again. One of the values of bird watching in a group comes from all the collective eyes and ears. If all the members of the group are actively searching for birds you will discover many more compared to the situation where the group is depending on the leader to find and point out everything. You can't ignore sightings and expect to find "interesting birds". If you see something and aren't sure what it is, you have to pursue it. Blowing it off as probably "just" another junco is a good way to miss seeing some unusual birds.
My mom swears that birds come out of hiding whenever I am around. Sometimes, my Saturday Birders have claimed the same thing. To which I will sometimes break out into the cheesy Carpenters song "why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be, close to you". I have been on bird walks with expert birders and I am amazed at how they can find so many birds
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Birding in Boulder County
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including unusual or rare ones. What seemed like normal or mediocre birding conditions suddenly transform into memorable sightings. What I have come to realize is finding birds is not all accidental. With knowledge of the season, habitat, and even weather conditions you can anticipate certain possibilities. Combine that with field experience, book knowledge, earnestness, and a certain amount of intuition and the birds will suddenly appear. You've just got to make your own breaks.
P.S. Here are links to the two bird walks referenced above. To sign up for the weekly email and slide show, so you too can take a virtual bird walk every week, click on the link below.
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Highest Quality Seed . . .
Expert Advice . . .
Best Prices!
At the Wild Bird Company we strive to provide you with the highest quality seed at the best prices. We share your passion for attracting birds and the joy it brings and will continue to work with you toward improving the health of the birds and their environment.
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Q: I'm so excited about spring coming. What should I do in my yard to welcome the birds?
A:
It is exciting! All seasons have their appeal to bird watchers, but spring is still the best if you ask me. In all the excitement, your list could get quite long, even impossibly long, but we don't want that so here are a few things to focus on, and if you want to expand from there, more power to you.
- Clean out your bird nest boxes, but only if you are sure no birds are using them already. If you don't have a nesting box, consider adding one.
- Plant one bird-friendly shrub and a patch of bird-friendly flowers. Bird-friendly, simply meaning a plant the birds could use for shelter and/or food. Natives are a sure bet. Here is a great resource from Audubon
- Clean up or put out a bird bath.
- Put out a nyjer feeder for the changing goldfinches. If your existing nyjer feeder has had seed in it, but no activity this winter, consider changing out that seed.
- Clean up your bird feeders. I usually do not recommend taking your bird feeders apart to clean them. Simply soak them in soapy water and scrub up the ports. Make sure caked on seed or grime is scraped off, then let them dry and refill them. That should get you started caring for your backyard birds this spring. Enjoy your habitat! Remember, when it comes to the birds, the sky is the limit!
That should get you started caring for your backyard birds this spring. Enjoy your habitat! Remember, when it comes to the birds, the sky is the limit!
Q: Where should I go to see the Sandhill Cranes??
A:
I am a proponent of seeing cranes anywhere and anytime you can. There are two main areas where people go to see Sandhill cranes stage in the spring, one is the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska and the other is Monte Vista, Colorado. Both are excellent experiences, peak about the 20th to 25th of March, and are about the same drive time from Boulder.
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Sandhill Cranes ©Steve Frye
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About 20,000 greater Sandhill Cranes gather at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge every march on their way to points across the western US and Canada. You can have an intimate experience with the cranes on the driving loop and take great pictures with mountains in the background! A fantastic experience.
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Sandhill Cranes ©Steve Frye
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At the Rowe Sanctuary near Kearney, Nebraska, approximately 500,000 lesser Sandhill Cranes stage along the Platte River in one of the earth's greatest animal migrations. I have been on the Serengeti during wildebeest migration and can tell you the Sandhill migration in Nebraska is every bit as spectacular. After staging along the Platte, these birds will depart for Canada and Alaska with some crossing the Bering Strait and nesting in Siberia.
Both places are well worth visiting. To help you plan your trip, use the links below:
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Woodpecker Problems at Home?
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Don't forget to pro-actively attract your favorite birds. Stop by the Wild Bird Company today or
Sincerely,
Stephen Frye
1.844.442.1322 (toll free)
Wild Bird Company Headquarters
1641- 28th Street, Boulder, CO 80301
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