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Wild Bird Center of Boulder Saturday Walks
 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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Search for Shorebirds
End-O-Month Bird WalkAugust 28th 7:30 to 10:30
"greater yellowlegs"
by Wendy Marie Stuart
Let's look for shorebirds heading south. Join us on a tour
of local ponds and reservoirs looking for fall shorebirds. I'm no shorebird
expert, so we'll break out the books and figure them out together. After all,
it is back to school time.
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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
"Unwelcome Guest" by Wendy Marie Stuart
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
"Greater Yellowlegs" by Wendy Marie Stuart
"Unwelcome Guest" by Wendy Marie Stuart
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Birding Community Bulletins
 National Wildlife Refuge Association
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Contact Information
Steve Frye, Owner . Wild Bird Center Boulder
1641-28th Street
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 442-1322
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Thank you for all of your support from all of us at
YOUR Wild Bird Center! We couldn't have done this without you! Twenty-one 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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Common Nighthawk
The Nocturnal Flycatcher
by Scott Severs
During summer, late afternoon and evening hikes in the foothills provide opportunities to enjoy wildlife behavior without the hot temperatures of midday. While some animals are settling down for the night, others are just beginning their day. Crickets commence their incessant chirping, spiders emerge from dark hideaways, and owls begin searching for waking mice and voles. Just before the sun falls behind the Divide, a nasal peeernt emanates from above. I quickly scan the sky and see a swallow-like bird bouncing across the sky catching insects and calling frequently. I see a common nighthawk.
Not truly a hawk, nighthawks share more in common with their relatives the whip-poor-wills, which together make up a family of birds called the nightjars. Members of the nightjar family have gaping mouths designed to scoop insects out of the air. These wide mouths led to a myth that nightjars drank milk from the udders of goats, and the family was once collectivelycommon nighthawk | known as the goatsuckers. Today the family name is derived from the jarring notes of their calls. Members of this group are covered with marvelous, cryptically colored feathers marbled with grays, browns, and blacks that help conceal them from predators. Most nightjar family members nest on the ground, so camouflage is key to survival.
Not entirely nocturnal, nighthawks tend to be crepuscular-meaning they, like most nightjars, are most active in the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. There are a bounty of moths, beetles, and other flying insects available at theses times that do not appear during daylight hours. By foraging on the wing, nighthawks can catch great numbers of insects in a short period of time.
When viewed in silhouette from below, nighthawks look a lot like swallows, with long pointed wings adapted for an aerial life style. To identify nighthawks in flight, look for distinctive white patches toward the tips of their dark wings. A white throat patch and band across the tail set apart the male from the female.
As spring days lengthen, male nighthawks perform spectacular courtship dives in the midst of their consorts. While the female rests on a nearby tree, the male nighthawk circles above, calling frequently ...peeernt...peeernt...peeernt... Finally his flight stalls like a small plane, and he begins to plummet toward his mate sitting below. At the bottom of the dive he pulls up, and the wind whistles through the outer flight feathers of his wings, producing a whooshing sound...v-r-r-rrooommmm. The booming sound makes me think of some wacky sound in a Warner Brothers cartoon I may have watched as a kid.
In late May, June, or July, females produce two light brown eggs speckled with darker browns. Nighthawks do not build nests, and lay their eggs directly on graveled soil and occasionally on flat gravel rooftops. If the nest area becomes too hot for the eggs and young, nighthawks may move themcommon nighthawk
 | to a cooler spot. Adults nighthawks have been observed feigning injury to draw coyotes and other ground-searching predators away from their nests. The female incubates the eggs for about 20 days, during which time the male brings food to her. The young will fly and forage on their own about three weeks after hatching.
In Colorado, nighthawks occur in open habitats from border to border. In our area they especially like open ponderosa pine woodlands edging mountain meadows. Good places to see foraging and displaying nighthawks include Betasso Preserve, Bald Mountain, and Walker Ranch. In fall, sizable flocks of nighthawks gather along the Dakota Hogback before beginning their trip southward to South America.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds: Common Nighthawk
Aububon at Home: Common Nighthawk
New Hampshire Audubon: Project Nighthawk
Geneise on Youtube: Nighthawk
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The Ultimate Bird Food
Sunflower Chips
No Waste - No Shells - No Sprouting
25# Bag of Sunflower Chips
Only $34.99
Save $5.00
Go to our Online Product Catalog to view seed, feeders, boxes (bird & bat), optics, gifts, books, CDs and many other products.
NOTE: Just mention this e-coupon to get your discount. Call (303) 442-1322. Some restrictions may apply. Not valid in combination with other promotions. Expiration date: 8/31/10.
----- Coupon ----- Coupon ----- Coupon -----
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Humming Along
Colorado Hummers
Some hummingbirds have been in southward migration since early July. As these birds wing south, some choose to venture out from the foothills and mountains onto the plains. In the last few weeks we have been getting good reports of hummingbirds out east. In my Longmont yard, I have been visited by quite a few hummingbirds in the last three weeks. Usually, I get almost entirely calliope hummingbirds, but this year I have had good numbers of all three regularly occurring species (broad-tailed, rufous, and calliope). So if you would like to be visited by the hummingbirds, consider adding some hummingbird attractive plants in your yard and put up feeder!  hummingbird
Hummingbirds 101
hummingbirds.net
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 Hours Survey
Would it be more convenient to shop at the Wild Bird Center if we had different hours? Presently, our hours are Monday through Friday 10 to 6, Saturday 9 to 6, and Sunday 11 to 5. If additional hours would help you, please send an e-mail telling what changes would be helpful to wbcboulderco@aol.com. Thank you. |
Thanks, Jan!
Our thanks go out to Jan Chu for leading us on the Birds and Butterflies Walk last month. We had a great time finding all kinds of creatures including some good mammals like the mink and an Abert's Squirrel. Jan's knowledge of butterflies is fantastic and we appreciate her sharing that with us.
butterfly
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 Ask Steve
A: Where have all the grackles gone? I usually have tons but for the last few weeks I haven't seen hardly a one.
A: Funny you should mention this because I too have not seen many grackles in my yard or on the Saturday Walks in the last few weeks. I am not sure what is going on, but there are some things I am sure of. Typically, we don't see nearly as many grackles in people's yards in the last part of the summer. Grackles show up in the spring to nest near or in suburban landscapes. After their young hatch, we seem to have hordes in our yards with all the young squawking and the adults busy feeding them. Soon after the young fledge, they are left behind because the parents move off to agricultural and wetland habitats. Young persist in our yards for a few more weeks until they molt into the shiny adult plumage. After that transformation, the young move off to meet the other adults and flock up in preparation of heading south. So normally we see a significant reduction in grackle numbers in our yards toward August and the coming of fall. This year, however, the change is more dramatic. In the fall we see waves of grackle | grackles coming through. Perhaps this year our grackles have really taken off early but have not been replaced by the more northern grackles. I'm sure the local grackle population and their food supply has not been adversely changed this year, but it's still hard to explain their relative absence. Maybe it's just 'greener grass' some other place that is luring them away? We probably will never know the answer.
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