Backyard Bird Watching & Bird Feeding Specialists                              Sep/Oct  2017 Newsletter
In This Issue
~LOWER SEED PRICES!
~Attracting Downy Woodpeckers by Steve Frye
~Emerald Ash Borers and the Birds that Eat Them
~Get It Delivered - for FREE!
~Saving Raptors
LOWER SEED PRICES!

We were able to lower seed prices again this spring! 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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Xcel Energy
 Bird Cams 
                                              
      owl_cam2
       eagle_cam2

Xcel Energy Bird Cams
(cams for eagles, falcons, herons,
kestrels, ospreys & owls) 
 
Web Cams
 from US Stream
Broad-Tailed Hummingbird
©Steve Frye 
 
   Hummingbird Nest Cam



 

Osprey Cam
from Earth Cam
 
Osprey ©Wendy Marie Stuart 
 
 
Wild Bird Company Saturday Bird Walk 
(Every Saturday morning for our Colorado Birders) 
 

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

 
Share the Love



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

The New Sign

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 28.5 years so memorable. I look forward to more good times.     --Steve

Attracting Downy Woodpeckers
by Steve Frye  

                 Click Here to Find Products to
                 Attract Downy Woodpeckers


Attracting Downy Woodpeckers
Downy woodpeckers are cute little noisy
Downy Woodpecker
©Kevin Rutherford
woodpeckers that enliven backyards across much of North America in all seasons. Attracting them is relatively easy and your reward is the endless entertainment they bring by their clown-like demeanor and constant activity. Downy Woodpeckers (downies) are highly sought after for these reasons.  

Bird Seed and Bird Feeders for
Attracting Downy Woodpeckers
Suet feeders are the most reliable way to attract downies to your backyard. Suet feeders are wire
Downy Woodpecker
©Steve Frye
cages which hold suet or suet cakes and can be put out by themselves or attached to a seed feeder. True suet is the dense fat from around the kidney, but suet is usually referred to in a broader sense to mean any kind of fat, shortening, or fat-based cake that you would put out to attract woodpeckers, nuthatches, or chickadees. Raw fat can only be used in cold winter climates or it will turn rancid. Rendered suet cakes can be fed in most weather conditions without the threat of spoiling. The most popular suet cakes at the Wild Bird Company for attracting downy woodpeckers are peanut butter, insect, orange, and sunflower. 

Suet feeders are either placed against a tree or fence, or hung from a branch or eave. Feeders that hang alone work best if they have a tail-prop attached to support downy woodpecker tails as they
Downy Woodpecker
©Kevin Rutherford
feed from the suet. The downy woodpeckers at my house really love my suet log, which is a section of log with holes bored through it which accept cylindrical suet plugs.

Many people make their own suet mixtures or "puddings" for the downy woodpeckers to eat. These recipes are suet, shortening, or lard based mixtures with all sorts of things added in. At the Wild Bird Company, we developed our own suet recipe called Suet Scrumpy which the downy woodpeckers and others love.

Downy woodpeckers are also fond of sunflower seeds and nuts. Oil sunflower or hulled sunflower are both readily consumed. They can be placed in a tube, hopper, or platform feeder. Tree nuts and shelled peanuts are best put on the tray of a hopper feeder or a platform. They tend to clog up tube feeders. You can also use a specialized peanut feeder, which looks much like a suet feeder, for presenting either shelled peanuts or tree nuts to the downy woodpeckers.
 
Bird Houses for Downy Woodpeckers 
Downy woodpeckers are primary cavity nesters meaning they make their own holes to nest in rather than using a preexisting nest box. However, you may
Downy Woodpecker ©Kevin Rutherford
be able to trick them into using a bluebird-sized nest box by packing it completely full of wood shavings. The downies will then dig all of the shavings out making them feel they have just excavated the easiest nest cavity ever. You will need to repack the nest box every fall to get downy woodpeckers to use your nest box again. Nest boxes for downy woodpeckers should be placed on a tree (not hanging) for best results. They are not too picky about its orientation, but I would advise to not face it into prevailing winds or direct afternoon sun. Mount the downy woodpecker box as high as you are comfortably able and where it will not be too hard to repack it with shavings.

Water Features and Bird Baths for Attracting Downy Woodpeckers
Downy woodpeckers will visit both bird baths and more elaborate water features to drink and bathe. I have found downies are more likely to only drink from water features and baths rather than bathe. However, the downy woodpeckers in my yard only seem to bathe in my water feature rather than my numerous baths. Also, they frequent both baths and water garden more in the winter compared to the summer. A heated bath in winter will help keep downy woodpeckers visiting your yard during the winter.

Gardening for Downy Woodpeckers
Downy woodpeckers can be found in a variety of habitats from woodlots, parks, hedgerows and forest
Downy Woodpecker ©Kevin Rutherford
edges, riparian zones, secondary growth, and open woods. Downies prefer deciduous habitats over coniferous ones, but will avoid dense woods of either form. They will probe and glean food from old or young trees both alive or dead.

Besides foraging in trees, downy woodpeckers feed on galls and pick apart many woody stemmed plants like poison hemlock looking for insects. Another favorite plant to forage on for seeds is the non-indigenous common mullein. 

Fruits are also readily eaten by downy woodpeckers. Crabapples, Virginia Creeper, serviceberries, mountain ash, hackberries, and dogwoods are all plants attractive to downy woodpeckers.

If possible, leave dead branches on your trees where the downies like to excavate nesting cavities.
Emerald Ash Borers and the
Birds that Eat Them
Photograph by David Cappaert/USDA via Creative Commons

Every ecologist will tell you that a predator never wipes out its prey. Populations fluctuate according to the amount of food available for both the prey and the predator. Low prey numbers will translate into low predator numbers and as prey populations increase, so does the predator population. The horrible onslaught of introduced Asian Emerald Ash Borers has wreaked havoc on North American ash trees in the East. We now find ourselves facing the same problem here in Colorado. Combating these borers with conventional chemical means is costly, toxic, and marginally successful. The articles below give some hope that woodpeckers and nuthatch populations have increased in response to this outbreak and may be part of the solution to controlling these invasive insects.

I have a huge and lovely ash tree in my front yard. Our tree specialist suggested that we take the best care of it we can, and if that doesn't work against the ash borer, he'll take it out and replace it with something other than an ash. He said this strategy would be less expensive in the long run compared to treating it chemically and we would probably end up with the same result. So while I wait to see what happens, I am embarking on a strategy to increase the number of woodpeckers and nuthatches in my yard. This may not stop the ash borers from killing off many of the ash trees in town, but perhaps it will give my tree a fighting chance. Right now I have four suet feeders and several hulled sunflower feeders. That should be a good start! 

Bored To Death: An Ecological Surprise
from the Emerald Ash Borer
by All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

by The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Get It Delivered!
            
We field a lot of complaints about Boulder traffic and parking. If these issues are hindering or reducing the number of trips to come see us, then give us a call. We'd be happy to deliver to you! If you order $50 or more the delivery is free. Otherwise, we charge a modest fee for smaller orders. Either way, you can't beat having heavy seed bags show up at your doorstep. Our delivery area includes Boulder, Niwot, Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette, and Lyons.
Saving Raptors
Longmont Power Modified Pole at Golden Ponds

Some of you may recall that we found a red-tailed hawk and an osprey hanging dead from power poles on the Saturday Morning Bird Walks this spring. An unsettling and unfortunate discovery when we were out enjoying and exploring the wonders of our local avifauna. We are also keenly aware of the challenges of various forms our birds face, and power poles can be one of them.

After seeing the images of these lifeless birds, Wild Bird Company customer and Saturday Morning
Longmont Power Modified Pole at Golden Ponds
Birder Bay Roberts wanted to help protect raptors in the future by contacting the power companies and having them modify these poles. She contacted Larry Claxton, Xcel Energy Siting and Land Rights Agent, about modifying the power pole at Sombrero Marsh where we had found the red-tailed hawk, and Jess Aills, Longmont Power and Communications Director of
Excel Energy Modified Pole at Sombrero Marsh
Electric and Broadband Engineering, about modifying the power pole near Golden Ponds where we found the osprey. Both of these utility companies were very receptive to Bay's requests and have made the necessary modifications to the poles to protect raptors. Way to go Bay, Xcel Energy, and Longmont Power and Communications! 
Suet Starter Pack
Attract More Nuthatches, Chickadees and Woodpeckers!
Save 30%:
$11.00 per pack*

* Pack Includes the 3 suet cakes +
EZ Fill Suet Feeder
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Note: When purchasing online, discount will be applied during checkout.]
Shop Online , Call (303) 442-1322 and mention this Coupon or visit our Store to redeem.
Code:  WBCO1003

Not to be combined with other offers.
Expires 11/15/17. 
Don't forget to pro-actively attract your favorite birds. Stop by the Wild Bird Company today or
Shop on our Online Store and stock up for the summer.
 
Sincerely,
Stephen Frye
1.844.442.1322 (toll free)

Wild Bird Company Headquarters

1641- 28th Street, Boulder, CO 80301 
Wild Bird Company


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