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Wild Bird Center of Boulder Saturday Bird Walks
 bird watchers (that's us) 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 ________________ |
New CFO Website
The Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO) have reworked their website which includes many great features. Go out there and explore.
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Wild Bird Center
of Boulder Quick Links
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Xcel Energy
One fun way to participate in the lives of local birds is by viewing Xcel Energy's Web Cams
owl cam
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New Seed Mixes
Western Patio: This is a return to a no mess formula like the patio we sold a few years ago. It's a better mix because it does not include the nyjer seed. Nyjer is a fine seed, but in a mix I think it goes to waste and it makes it more expensive. Use this blend for all kinds of birds on platform, hopper, or tube feeders. It comes by the pound and in 20# bags.
Mountain & Plains: This is a new style mix for us. It is a no millet mix of both oil and striped sunflowers, safflower, peanuts, and cherries. This would be a great mix grosbeaks, finches, and jays on a platform or in a hopper feeder with a lot of tray space. It comes by the pound and in 20# bags.
Nature Cherry: No mess seeds and mixes are our best sellers. Nature Cherry adds another attractive seed blend to our patio, or no mess, mixes. As the name implies, this blend has lots of cherries so it's attractive to a wide variety including non-seed eaters like robins. It also includes sunflower chips, peanuts splits, and tree nuts. The cherries make it too chunky for a tube feeder, but it will work well in all others. It comes by the pound and in 20# bags.
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Birding Community
Bulletins
National Wildlife Refuge Association
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Contact Information
Steve Frye, Owner Wild Bird Center of Boulder
1641-28th Street
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 442-1322
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The Regal Pintail
by Steve Frye
As a beginning birder, I think I subconsciously adopted the motto, "I don't do ducks." It's not that I disliked them, but there were so many kinds, and I was always far away from them. Instead of taking the time to learn about them, I tended to avoid them. Times have changed, and "I do ducks" now, but I'm sorry that I didn't give them more attention when I was younger.
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northern pintalis (male & female)
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I missed out on so much beauty and interesting behavior. The duck world is full of beautiful iridescent colors, bold patterns, intricate earth tone feather patterns, ornate scapulars, gaudy color combinations, wacky bills, and zany feet. Some look like clowns and others are elegant, but few are more regal than the northern pintail.
Pintails are large looking dabbling ducks with long necks and are named for their long tails. Males have exceptionally long, pointed, black tail feathers. They have mostly gray bodies with milk chocolate brown heads and necks with white stripes extending from white chests up the side of their long necks. Males also have black-and-cream colored rump patches and long gray, black, and brown scapular feathers that lay on their backs. The final

northern pintail (male) northern pintail (female)
bit of ornamentation on male pintails is a black bill with blue-gray sides. Female pintails also have an air of elegance about them. They are covered with intricately patterned brown, black, and tan feathers that give them an overall brown appearance. A female's neck and head are lighter in color, but the bird still has the characteristic long neck and tail. Together, as you often see them, the male and female pintail make a handsome couple. These elegant birds grace us with their presence in Boulder County mostly during migration. While migrating pintails concentrate along the major river drainages in Colorado and in the San Luis Valley. They are the most widely distributed duck in North America, but they are most abundant in the West. They are circumpolar meaning you can find them on all the continents of the Northern Hemisphere. Pintails are long-distance migrants and may winter as far south as northern South America. Long distant migra¬tions are no doubt helped by a pintail's speed, which has been recorded at up to 65 miles per hour. Banding studies of pintails nesting in the San Luis Valley have shown those birds winter mostly in Texas, New Mexico, and the Gulf regions of Mexico. While widespread, the northern pintail has undergone a precipitous population decline in North America. US Fish and Wildlife data show their population dropped in half from 1975 to 1992. Similarly, Breeding Bird Survey info shows a population decline of 4.8% annually. It is thought that drought and changes in agricultural practices have been responsible for this dramatic decline.
northern pintails (resting)
 Most of the pintails migrating through Colorado go farther north for nesting season, but some remain in North Park, South Park, the northeastern plains, and the San Luis Valley to nest. In the spring you can see dramatic courtship flights near ponds where pintails nest. Several males will chase a female around a pond until only the fittest male remains. After mating, female pintails will sometimes build their grassy nests half a mile away from water. Females lay only 6 to 9 yellow-green or cream-colored eggs, a small clutch size compared to most dabbling ducks. Early in incu¬bation, the male abandons the female, leaving her to raise the ducklings on her own. As she incubates, she adds down feathers from her own breast to the nest in preparation for keeping her ducklings warm after hatching. Should any danger or disturbance arise while she is incubating, the female will most likely abandon the nest. After 22 to 25 days of incubation, the young hatch. Two days after hatching, the precocial ducklings can feed themselves, and they will be led by the female to the closest pond. If the young are threatened along the way, the female will feign injury and try to lead the predator away from the ducklings. At the pond, the young ducks will be protected by their mother. They dine on mostly aquatic vegetation, with the occasional tadpole, minnow, or aquatic invertebrate added to their diet. Young pintails can fly about 36 to 57 days after hatching. They will remain with their siblings and with other ducks, including pintails, until it is time to migrate. Pintails are social ducks and are often found in large flocks where they are abundant.
northern pintails
If you would like to see this most regal of waterfowl on migration, please join us for a Saturday bird walk in October from 7:20 am to 10:00 am. Please bring binoculars, if you have them, and dress appropriately for the weather. If you have any questions give the Wild Bird Center a call at 303-442-1322. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds: Northern Pintail Bill Schmoker's Site: Northern Pintail photographs Elmer Palmer Crowell: Pintail Drake Hunting Decoy Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Macaulay Library:Northern Pintail video #1 [Notice that the bird is all "pointed" in flight. Pointy wings, pointy head, and, of course, pointy rear end. It also lands on the water more "goose-like" than other ducks.] Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Macaulay Library: Northern Pintail video #2 Delta Waterfowl Foundation: Northern Pintail video #3 Arkive: Northern Pintail video #4 |
"eBird" by Cornell Lab
of Ornithology
Do you keep track of the birds in your yard or do you notice when something unusual shows up? If you don't keep track, you should. Noting the birds you see while hiking or in your back yard is a great way to mark the seasons and other special events in your life like vacations. And the best way to keep track is with eBird from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. With e-bird you can record your sightings and observations online. eBird will organize your sightings so that you can keep track of yard birds, county birds, state birds, and of course, North American birds. You can keep track of almost anything you want. Perhaps you like to record breeding bird activity, you can keep those kind of records on eBird. However, the best part about having an e-bird account is that others, including scientists, can view your data and help track ranges, migration, and abundance. These kind of records are of great value to ornithologists. When you enter your bird data you can always hide the location from the general public so you don't have throngs coming to see the birds in your yard.
I have recently opened an eBird account and have started entering all the Saturday Morning Bird Walk observations, as well as, observations I make throughout the week on my account. Eventually, data from all the bird walks that we have taken for the last 10 years or so will be entered onto eBird!
eBird is a great resource already, but you could make it even better. Please consider tracking your bird observations with e-bird. The eBird web site is also a great resource to bookmark.
eBird Website
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The Big Year
(Movie)
As many of you know, birding will come into the limelight this week with the release of The Big Year. This movie is based on the book of the same name which came out several years ago chronicling the challenge of three birders trying to see the most birds in one year. The Big Year has many starring big names like Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and Steve Martin to name a few. Will it be any good? Will it have any resemblance to the book? Will it present birders in a stereotypical or nerdy way? Who knows, but I want to see it anyway. If you're with me, please buy tickets for the 7:00 pm show on October 22nd at the Century Theater in Boulder. If nothing else, we will all have a good laugh. Show times are not set in stone this far in advance, but it should work out. If you have any questions call the Wild Bird Center at 303-442-1322.
The Big Year Movie at Cinemark:
Details and Trailer #`1
The Big Year Movie, 20th Century Fox: Details and Trailer #2
Colorado Public Radio:
Colorado Author's Book Hits Hollywood Bigtime
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The Big Year
(Not the Movie)
Local birder and videographer John Vanderpoel is doing a Big Year in 2011 which means John is on a quest to see as many birds as possible in North America during 2011. To have a successful Big Year one must be willing to bird watch continuously and intensely. If possible, you also need to travel to many remote locations in all seasons. So far, John has been travelling quite a bit and seeing lots of birds. Check out John's adventures and list on his excellent blog and website.
John Vanderpoel's Blog & Website
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To redeem this Coupon just visit our store or Call (303) 442-1322.
Not to be combined with other offers.
Offer expires 10/31/11.
----- Coupon ----- Coupon ----- Coupon ---
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 Ask Steve Q: Which birds will come to my suet feeder?
A: The birds most likely to be attracted to your suet are bark gleaners like woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees. Besides these common visitors, you may also be able to attract bushtits, kinglets, some warbler species, jays, and creepers, or even stranger suet eaters like juncos, thrushes, grosbeaks, and tanagers. Some species that are attracted occasionally to suet and deemed undesirable by some include magpies, crows, nutcrackers, and starlings. All the members of the crow family which includes magpies and nutcrackers can be "controlled" to some degree by using a small mesh suet feeder. These feeders do not allow these larger and resourceful birds from taking big chunks of suet at one time. They will still come, but will not go through the suet at such an alarming rate. Other strategies for dealing with the crow family members involve making the birds hang sideways or upside down to feed. The crows don't like this, but some of the other "desirable" birds will feed this way. This strategy will work to reduce starling feeding frenzies as well. Another way to reduce the amount of suet consumed by starlings and crow family members is a caged suet feeder. These feeders have an outer cage surrounding the inner suet holder. They restrict larger birds from reaching the suet. However, larger woodpeckers like flickers can still reach the suet due to their long beaks and extremely long tongues.
The caged feeders will also thwart squirrels. Our customers have varying experience with the squirrels on their suet feeders. Some don't have any problems while others are in full attack mode. Squirrels, like the birds, do not like all flavors of suet. Of course, the peanut cakes which are preferred by the birds are also the ones preferred by the squirrels. Another strategy is to experiment with different flavors of suet until you find one that is still attractive to the birds and only moderately attractive to the squirrels. This way you still have plenty of birds and only the occasional squirrel. Try insect suet as a cake that will attract birds and not many squirrels.
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bushtits on suet feeder
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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-two 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 & Bill
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