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bird watchers (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.
Call for more info: 303-442-1322
Birdwalks
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Veggie Suet Available
For a long time, customers have asked if suet was available made with vegetable shortening instead of beef fat. We finally found some and it works great. My birds have been gobbling it right up. It comes in two varieties, peanut and insect. Give 'em a try.
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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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Birding Community Bulletins
 National Wildlife Refuge Association
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Nature Photography
by
Wendy Marie Stuart
Green-winged Teal
Visit our store to see a gallery of Wendy's matted and framed prints
and greeting cards for all occasions or
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Photo Credits
"Birding Community Bulletins" by National Wildlife Refuge Association
"Green-winged Teal" by Wendy Marie Stuart
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Thank you!
on our
20th Anniversary
from all of us at YOUR
Wild Bird Center! We couldn't have done this without you! Twenty years is a long time in anyone's book and we owe our success to you -- our customers, compatriots, fellow birders, and friends. A hearty thank you to you all!
Steve, Wendy, Marlene, & Bill
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Contact Information
Steve Frye, Owner
Wild Bird Center Boulder
1641-28th Street
Boulder, CO 80301
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FALL SEED, FEEDER & SUET SALE:
Tue, Oct 20 - Sun, Oct 25
Click Here if you are interested in receiving a reminder and an ADDITIONAL SPECIAL COUPON for our FALL SALE
This fall we are back to having a seed sale! Over the last few years seed margins have been too tight to offer big seed discounts, but this year is better. You may have noticed that sunflower chip prices have come down and the sale price will be even lower. We have also started selling a new line of exclusive Wild Bird Center Brand Seeds which we will showcase during the sale. These blends have been formulated using the latest bird attraction data from Project Wildbird. Mark this week on your calendar and stock up for heavy winter feeding.
BirdWise Seed Blends - Only at the Wild Bird Center. Save 20% on all BirdWise Blends during the Fall Sale!
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Attack Spiders
$5.00 Off!
We sell these spiders as a means of protecting your house from woodpecker attacks, but they are also great Halloween decorations. Imagine the looks on kids faces' when you shut the door and your Attack Spider drops in front of them! Come see how they work. Buy one for Halloween and then use it to protect your house in the spring.
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Coming Events
End-of-Month Birdwalk
 October 31 - Halloween
Join us for this special Halloween Bird Walk which will take us to local cemeteries in search of birds. Old cemeteries have long been known as birding hot spots to birders because they offer good habitat and are quiet. The walk will leave at the normal time and place, the Wild Bird Center leaving promptly at 7:30 am. Costume not required. Aren't you dying to go birding in the cemetery?
Look for Loons Walk
November 7th
Typically, we look for loons on the last Saturday of October, but this year we are shifting our loon look to the first Saturday of November. Please  join us on this reservoir tour to find our visitors from the north. We will carpool from the Wild Bird Center leaving promptly at 7:30 am. Call the store at 303-442-1322 if you have questions.loon |
 Ask Steve
Q: Should I be changing the seeds I put in my
feeder for winter?
A: If
Not necessarily. As the old saying goes, 'if it's not broke,
don't fix it'. So if the birds like your feeder-seed combination and you do
also, then I wouldn't do anything different as we move toward winter. However,
if you are not satisfied with your feeder-seed combination, then it is time for
a change.
The biggest problem we see is using the wrong seed for a
particular feeder. That is not to say that the seed was bad, rather that it is
the wrong combination between feeder and seed type. To help you select a better
seed for your feeder type, the Wild Bird Center has recently labeled all our
seed signs with bird icons, These icons will help show you the best feeders for
that particular seed.
Are there bad seeds, or is it just bad feeder-seed
combinations? Absolutely, there are bad seeds out there. In fact, I would say
that most mixed seeds on the market are poor quality. They are either
old and stale, too dusty, or just made with non-attractive, filler seeds like
milo and wheat.
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The Mud Teal
by Steve Frye green-winged teal
The mud teal is not a very flattering name, especially for a beautiful and elegant, little duck whose more proper name is the green-winged teal. It does describe its habit of walking in and around the muddy margins of ponds looking for food which it does often. I see them walking about as much as I see them swimming.
Green-winged teal are a common visitor to our ponds in Boulder County during the fall and spring especially. However, they are also a common visitor to places like England, Poland, Russia, and Japan because this little cosmopolitan duck is circumpolar. That is, they are distributed across all northern regions of the world like mallards and rough-legged hawks. In Europe and Asia, they are called common teal, Eurasian Teal or just 'teal', but it's the same bird as our green-winged teal. (It is a different subspecies though) In the new world, green-wings breed in the Northern half of North America and winter in the lower half of North America and as far south as Central America. These teals are more common in western North America, but you can find them from coast to coast.
Small fresh water ponds are their preferred habitat. They eat a variety of aquatic vegetation and some invertebrates, but they will also venture further from the pond to eat seeds, acorns and fruits. They are a major consumer of sedge seeds. The mud teals waddle around searching for these foods often with their heads lowered, skimming food from the waters' edge. Green-winged teals are known as a dabbling duck, this means it does not regularly dive under water and it feeds on the surface sometimes by tipping its rear end up and head under water. Many dabbling ducks, including green-winged teal, have comb-like structures along their bill called lamellae to help filter small foods out of the water.
Their scientific name is anas crecca. The genus name anas is Latin for duck, but the species name crecca is a bit of a mystery. Some feel that it is a derivation on the Greek work kreko which means 'the sound of a string when struck'. The males give a short, high-pitched 'creak' sound often which contains a slight rattle or trill. It is this sound which may have led to its species name crecca. The females give a soft 'quack'.
Identifying ducks in flight is a particular skill which both hunters and birders strive to sharpen. In flight, green-winged teal form an often large, tight and fast flock which wheels and twists in unison. Their rapid flight and tight formation is a good clue from far off that they are green-wings. Other teal also fly fast, but usually not in such tight or large flocks. Green-winged teal have been clocked travelling 30-40 mph. This makes them a challenge to shoot, but they are sought after because of their flavor. John James Audubon claimed it was the best tasting duck of all and he wished someone would domesticate these teal so more could enjoy eating them.
I don't know about their flavor, but they are always a pleasure to see. Males are medium gray on the body with a delicate texture and a chestnut head that sports a large green eye patch that runs down its neck. The contrast between the chestnut and green is not great so you have to get a good look in order to distinguish these markings. From far away, the white slash just behind the chest and the vanilla rump patch can be seen from far off. I often think bird watchers should hold their books ten feet away to get a more realistic indication of what the birds look like when they're in the field. The females are harder to distinguish. Teal are tiny ducks which can help in their identification. Female green-winged teal have a small bill and sometimes show the green speculum on their wing, but they are cryptically colored brown like most female ducks. The speculum is a brightly colored section of a ducks' secondary wing feathers. When they have their wings folded, the speculum often shows on the birds' side.
If you would like to see this beautiful and cosmopolitan duck in October, you need to visit a small pond. Some of the best places are Sawhill and Walden Ponds, Little Gaynor Lake, Pella Crossing, Stern's Lake, and Jim Hamm Nature Preserve. Look for green-winged teal along the margins of ponds and on the mud flats. Enjoy watching this tiny duck and don't forget to listen for its creaking call.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology: "All About Birds"
Green-winged Teal
Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
MacCaulay Library
Bird Watcher's Digest:
Bird Watcher's Digest
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New Wild Bird Center Website Launched
The Wild Bird Centers launched a new Website last month which has some neat new features. One slick new feature is the Common Bird Field Guides which shows photos and videos, lets you listen to songs, and has a lot of great info including how to attract the most common species. Many of you noted our troubles when the site first went live, but we have ironed out most of these problems
We are always working on increasing the value of our site. The address for the new site is www.wildbird.com/franchisee/bld and you can always reach the new site by going to our Product Catalog at www.wbcboulder.com and clicking on the Wild Bird Center Home link on top of the left navigation column. Be sure to bookmark both of them! Or you can just use the links below to navigate our local Boulder pages of the new site.
common western birds common eastern birds
 
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Wild Bird Center of Boulder
Catalog Web Site
We continue to add products to our Catalog Website for our Boulder Store. While we are under construction, we invite you to check it out at www.WBCBoulder.com. For all you locals who get seed delivered, you can use the site to figure out an order and delivery charges. Feel free to email us or call (303) 442 1322 with your product questions.
Click Here To View Our New Product Catalog
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