Front Range Birding turns 2 years old Oct 21 Wine tasting, treats, book signings, door prizes, store wide sale, & more—all on tap!

Come by the store on Saturday, October 21st and join us in celebrating 2 years of serving you. We’ll roll out the “Taste of Colorado” with free in store samples of Colorado home grown jellies, jams, mustards, syrups, hot sauces, and of course Hogback Honey. Additionally, from 2 till 4pm, Ole Vine Liquors will have a wine tasting event featuring Colorado’s own special wines and meads! We’ll also provide shade grown coffee and some homemade lemonade!

Eat, drink, and be merry while getting a leg up on your Christmas shopping. In addition to the 20% off anything birds eat October sale, all the good stuff will be included in a store wide 15% off b’day sale!

Highlights

TASTE OF COLORADO ALL DAY

COLORADO WINE TASTING 2-4 PM

BOOK SIGNINGS 2 TILL 5 PM - Mary Taylor Gray will be on hand to talk about her 2 books: The Guide to Colorado Birds and On the Trail of Colorado Critters,

20% OFF SEED SALE !

15% OFF ALL NON-SEED ITEMS!

DOOR PRIZES!

COLORADO APPITIZERS SUPPLIED BY

Honeyville of Durango Patty’s Pantry of Brighton Boulder Hot Sauce Co of Boulder Serado Valley Foods of La Veta, Yours truly (Hogback Honey)

FEATURED WINES AND MEADS

Carlson Laughing Cat and Merlot Cottonwood Cabernet, Merlot, & Chardonnay Colorado Cellars Riesling, Gewurtz, and Port and Meads

See you at the celebration, Tom and Diane

FRBC joins Swarovski Optics to put on a free 1/2-day beginning digiscoping seminar at the Audubon Center’s Chatfield facility in beautiful Waterton Canyon. This is a great digiscoping educational opportunity. Many other optics topics will be covered as well.

Many birds frequent Chatfield State Park and Waterton Canyon. Shorebirds, Raptors to include Bald Eagles, and a multitude of many other species make the site ideal for a hands on optics and photographing experience.

Marrying a digital camera and spotting scope gives you the ability to take incredibly scarp photos of wildlife hundreds of feet away. At the seminar experts from Swarovski will help you become an accomplished wild life photographer. Scopes, adapters, binoculars, and cameras will be on hand but feel free to bring your own as well.

The seminar will run roughly from 1pm till 5pm. We will use the Audubon Center’s newly renovated historic farm house at the edge of Chatfield State Park. Seating is limited but there is no limit to standing room.

To truly enjoy the birding pastime, good optics is an absolute necessity. A quality spotting scope or pair if binoculars brings the majesty of birds right before your eyes. Adding the ability to capture this rewarding experience digitally makes every outdoor journey uniquely rewarding.

We plan to hold multiple in-depth free sessions with optics and camera experts beginning next spring. They will help to ensure you are up to speed by the beginning of the 2007 breeding season.

Come join us on Saturday, November 4th . Take Wadsworth 4 miles south of C-470. Turn left on Waterton Road and left again immediately into the Audubon Society at Chatfield parking lot. See you there!

Tom

Who isn't discouraged when...

large birds descend on our bird feeders, frightening off our smaller birds? Yet blue jays, grackles, redwing blackbirds, doves and pigeons are native birds and they have their place in Nature's scheme of things. We can welcome them, but on our terms, not theirs! With knowledge of specific feeders and food choices, we can manage the larger birds and allow our small birds to feed in peace.

Let's take advantage of the fact that chickadees, nuthatches and titmice are agile clingers who easily feed at small, free-swinging globe feeders with no perches. Globe feeders are available in various sizes. Check with us on which size works best for your individual large bird issue. Fill your globe with black oil sunflower seed, loved by small birds and not so much by larger birds. Large birds find it virtually impossible to balance on free-swinging perch less globes and will soon leave them alone.

Additional feeders that “clinger only” small birds love are Nyjer tubes, mesh, and sock feeders. These feeders do not attract any large perchers and hold the highly preferred non-germinating Nyjer seed that Goldfinches love. Remember they stay with us all winter.

Here's a quick solution to protecting your suet feeder from invaders--simply hang a dome shaped baffle over your suet basket to prevent starlings and grackles from landing. Baffles�typically are made of either metal or plastic--we have both varieties.

Finally, set up a diversion feeding area for those big birds, and locate it well away from the smaller feeders. For this you want a large and broad platform feeder with plenty of room to land and perch. Fill it with inexpensive seed blends that include corn and millet, favorite foods of blackbirds and doves. Add peanuts and a few sunflower seeds for the jays. Squirrels will be diverted to this area as well. Platform feeders range from simple models constructed of wood, to long-lasting durable resin materials. Ask us for help in selecting the platform that's right for you.

With the smaller birds on their special feeders and the large birds congregating on the platform feeder, you'll enjoy a greater variety of birds in a peaceful setting!

Enjoy your fall backyard feeders!

Tom

Pure raw local honey is now available in the store while supplies last. The bees worked hard but only gave us about 155 lbs. This honey is from our very own hives!

We’ll have more honey from other local beekeepers later. Stay tuned!