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 birdwatchers (that's us!) Wild Bird Center Saturday Walks:
From 7:30 am (promptly) to 9:45 am (approximately)
Every Saturday year-round.
Every last Saturday of the month we travel further afield than normal and return a little later.
Birdwalks
Special Bird Walk on Saturday, August 30th!
Help us find some of our departing birds and others just
passing through Colorado
on Saturday August 30th
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Wild Bird Center
of Boulder
Quick Links
Xcel Energy BirdCams
One fun way to participate in the lives of local birds is by viewing Xcel Energy's Web Cams
owl cam
eagle cam
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Nature Photography
by
Wendy Marie Stuart
Visit our store to see a gallery of Wendy's matted and framed printsand greeting cards for all occasions or
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Photo Credits
"Stellar Jay" by Cliff Bruning
"Blue Glider" by Wendy Marie Stuart
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Send Us Your Pictures  Send us photos of your backyard wildlife and we will add them to our slide show of digital pictures in our store. Along with your pictures please give us your name, date of the photo, and your general location. (We especially love to get pictures of birds on feeders) E-mails can be sent to: WBCBoulderCO@aol.com.
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We Love to Hear From You!
Stop on in, send an email, or, give us a call. We love to hear about your latest birding experiences and look forward to sharing ours. Thanks for your support! Happy Birding!
-- Steve, Marlene, Bill, & Wendy
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Welcome to "Boulder Backyards" mountain bluebirds
Wild Bird Center of Boulder adheres to a strict privacy policy that means your information will not be shared, sold, or otherwise distributed. If you do not wish to receive any further eNewsletters with Offers and Resource information, click the "SafeUnsubscribe" link at the bottom of this page. We value your relationship!
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| - - - - - Coupon - - - - - Coupon - - - - - Coupon - - - - -
Save $3.00
Bring in the Jays!
5# In-Shell Peanuts
Stellar's Jay
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Avian Olympics
I've been caught up in Olympic Fever this summer. So far, the games have been great and I marvel at the accomplishments, grace, and strength of the athletes. In the same way, I'm always amazed at the birds and what they can do. Even some of our most common local species have incredible life histories. For example, both barn swallows and
Swainson's Hawks that we enjoy here in the summer depart and migrate all the way to southern South America each year. Or that our broad-tailed hummingbirds have an active heart rate of 1200 beats/minute! The following is a list of the avian metal winners.
- Fastest Flying - peregrine falcons can fly at least 124 mph and up to 170-200 mph when stooping. Golden eagles have also been reported at stooping speeds similar to the peregrines'.
- Weight Lifting - a bald eagle has been reported flying away with a 15 lbs. chunk of mule deer.
- Sprinting - ostriches can reach 45 mph.
- High Flying - a Ruppell's Vulture was hit by a commercial aircraft at 37,000 ft.
- Long Distance Flying - the arctic tern annually flies 25,000 miles from pole to pole.
- Longest Flight - the sooty tern leaves the ground as a youngster and will not come back to land for 3-10 years. It may, however, infrequently land on the water for short periods of time.
- Fastest Wing Flapping - the horned sungem, a South American Hummingbird, can flap its wings 90 beats/second.
- Fastest Swimming - the gentoo penguin can swim 25 mph.
- Deepest Dive - emperor penguin can dive to 1772 ft.
- Longest Nest Burrow - the rhinoceros auklet will dig a burrow up to 26 ft in length.
Birds are truly amazing!
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Colorado Birding Trail
The Colorado Division of Wildlife has recently published a
small booklet highlighting the best birding spots in Southeastern
Colorado. This glossy booklet is well organized and informative.
It's a must have for local birders and its FREE. The Division has sent us a
case of these books to give away. Please stop by the Wild Bird Center to pick up your copy.
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 Ask Steve
Q: Why do I have so many jays right now?
A: The weather in August is hot, but the jays know colder fall and winter weather is coming. Starting in August, the jays cache food for winter consumption. They appear to eat extreme amounts in the fall, but most of the food they are taking away from your feeder is actually being stored. In the last half of the winter you may notice that the jays are not coming to your feeders as much. This is a direct result of fall caching. Jay numbers will be reduced at your feeder because they are eating their cached food.
You may also notice that jays prefer things like peanuts-in-the-shell over shelled peanuts. Jays "know" that nuts in the shell will last longer in a cache than shelled nuts so they prefer the in-shell peanuts for hiding. Most of the shelled nuts that the jays take in the fall are for immediate consumption. See the coupon for savings on In-shell Peanuts.
Q: When is fall migration?
A: Migration in the fall is a long, drawn out affair unlike the relatively compact spring migration. Different birds will time their migrations at different times of the year. Hummingbirds are the first to start southward (fall) migration in early July or even late June. They are followed by the orioles and some of the swallows in late July. Shorebirds migrate mostly in August. Most of our migrating songbirds that leave Colorado will pack up and head south some time between mid-August and mid-September. Hawk migration starts in late August and continues through October. We see most of our waterfowl migrating in October. Also, the songbirds that migrate to Colorado to winter usually arrive here about mid-October to mid-December. The timings for all these birds mentioned above are, of course, generalizations, but you can see that southward migration takes about half of the year. See the note on Saturday Bird Walks to help us find some migrating songbirds in the end of August.
geese migrating
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year??
At the Wild Bird Center we have been ordering Christmas Cards and 09 Calendars recently. (Believe it or not, we were a little late in ordering.) We have some lovely cards and calendars on the way so don't forget us if you have a need. We should have most of them out by late September/early October (but not our Christmas decorations).
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| Upcoming Events
Bird Walk, Saturday, August 30th
Help us find some of our departing birds and others just
passing through Colorado
on Saturday August 30th. As usual, meet us at the Wild Bird Center where we will leave promptly at
7:30 am to find some migrants. We will return about 11:00 am. No reservations
are required. If you have questions please call the Wild Bird Center at
303-442-1322.
Backyard Beekeeping: Saturday August 16, 10:30am to noon
Organic beekeeper Corwin Bell will show how to create a simple backyard beehive, He'll even bring along some friendly bees. Note: This event is taking place at the Longmont Museum & Cultural Center in connection with the "On Zweck's Farm" showing. |
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Contact Info: Steve Frye, Owner WBCBoulderCO@aol.com (303) 442-1322
Wild Bird Center of Boulder 1641 - 28th Street Boulder, CO 80301
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