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Greetings!
FRBC: A Nature Center For You and Your
Family
| FRBC AND WILD DELIGHT ANNOUNCE THE 2007 PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS |
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Congratulations to Bill Eden, Dianne Kile, and Peggy
Fairbanks, the top three entrants in our backyard
nature photo contest sponsored by the Wild Delight
Birdseed Company and Front Range Birding.
Our many thanks go out to all of our customers who
submitted their photos. It was an amazing assortment
of wildlife scenes that ran the gamet of artistic
impression, technical merit, and situational
circumstance. It was extremely difficult to pick the
best
photos from the 33 unique submissions.
All of December customers who visited the store cast
their votes on their favorite photographs. Over 180
people voted by choosing three photos that they
considered better than the rest. In the end technical
merit and sheer beauty won the day with Bill Eden's
stop action photo of a Calliope Hummingbird in flight.
You could even see the color of the flowers in the
background through the outstretched flying wing.
Bill is a Master Birder with the Audubon Society of
Greater Denver and an accomplished nature
photographer in his own right. Bill recently exhibited
his bird photographs in a shared show with Carol
Blackard at the Goodson Recreation Center in
Littleton.� The exhibit featured photographs of birds
from the United States and other countries (including
Bill's Streak-backed Oriole photo - see Front Range
Species Profiles in this issue)� The photographs will
hang from January 3 - January 30, 2008.� Bill also
recently had a photograph (White-tailed Ptarmigan on
Guanella Pass) published in the February 2008 issue
of Birder's World magazine.
If you would like to view Bill's exibit at the Goodson
Recreation Center it is located at 6315 South
University Blvd., Centennial, Colorado. You can call
them at 303-798-2476. The facility is open Mon-Sun, 6
AM-10 PM. Please check in at the main desk and tell
them that you are there only to view the exhibit.
Second place belonged to Diane Kile and her
exquisite photo of a black fox that regularly visits her
Roxborough back yard. The fox photo reveals how
nature's sometimes strange and unique ability never
ceases to amaze us.
Third place went to Peggy Fairbanks and her photo of
a black bear literally hanging around the back deck
munching down on a bird feeder attached to the deck
railing. Truly a major attention getter and the big topic
of conversation at the morning breakfast table!
Thanks again to all 33 contestants and their great
photographs. We look forward to the 2008 contest!
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| Front Range Birding Selects Petersen Pet Provisions As New Seed Suppler |
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Global Harvest and Audubon Park quit local
distribution
This January Global Harvest Foods (Audubon Park),
our primary wild bird seed provider, ceased
distribution operations to the specialty seed market.
This move by Global affects all wild bird seed stores
including, garden centers, hardware stores, the
franchises of Wild Birds Unlimited and the Wild Bird
Center, and all independents like Front Range Birding.
Global Harvest, a large national company out of
Washington State that specializes in supplying
large "box" stores such as Home Depot, purchased
Audubon Park in 2005. Their decision to abruptly end
service to small specialty stores sent all of us
scrambling to find new sources of quality high value
seed mixes to replace such familiar names as Tidy
Gardner, Patio Party, Daybreak Dove, Super Finch,
and
Nature's Nesting Mix.
The good news is the chief architect of these seed
mixes, Sue Findel, has offered her services to our
new
supplier Petersen Pet Provisions out of Greeley,
Colorado. Sue and Petersen Pet will soon provide us
with the quality mixes many of you know and trust.
Petersen Pet, who already supply us with the
premium
Wild Delight seed mixes, is a Colorado family owned
company whose core values are built on the high
product quality and customer service principals that
we so cherish at Front Range Birding.
We wish to thank all of our customers for their
patience as we switch our product lines over to
Petersen Pet. We are absolutely convinced you will
agree that Petersen Pet is absolutely top shelf and
the backyard birds you so much enjoy will covet the
high quality food they offer.
The new mixes should be available in the store for our
20% off February seed sale!
Tom
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| Great Backyard Bird Count Set for February 15-18 |
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Millions of novice and accomplished bird watchers
can make their fascination with nature add up for
science during the 11th annual Great Backyard Bird
Count, led by Audubon and the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology. During "Presidents' Day" weekend,
February 15-18, 2008, anyone can count birds from
wherever they are and enter their tallies online at
www.birdcount.org. These reports create a real-time
picture of where the birds are across the continent
and
contribute valuable information for science and
conservation.
Join us at FRBC in this great effort by the Cornell Lab
of Ornithology. We invite you to do one of your counts
at the Red Rocks Trading Post where we have
feeders
available for public viewing. Many cool species have
been seen recently at this majestic facility where you
can enjoy a cup of joe, count the birds, and awe at he
incredible city view framed by the famous Red Rocks
flatirons.
No matter where you count, we will reward your efforts
with 25% off any in store bird feeder. Just
show us a copy of the bird count checklist you
submitted to the Cornell Lab
Call us at FRBC for details.
Tom
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| HOGBACK HONEY UPDATE |
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Pure raw local honey.
We still have raw local honey in stock from several
local bee keepers. Our bees are snug in their hives till
Spring and we anticipate a good 2008 crop with all the
great snow this Winter. It should give early flowers
and a great nectar flow.
Stay tuned.
ASK US ABOUT ORCHARD MASON BEES AND
START YOUR OWN MASON BEE COLONY.
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| 20% OFF WINTER SEED SALE IS ON FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF FEBRUARY |
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20% OFF ALL BIRD FOOD.
ALL MONTH!
Use our seed vault program and save on seed all
year
long.
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| FRBC WINTER BIRD WALK & TALK SCHEDULE |
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Share your birding & wildlife experiences. Call us and
sign up for a free bird walk.
Sunday February 3rd 9am-Noon
Chatfield St Park with the Audubon Society
of Greater Denver
Saturday February 23rd 9am-Noon South Platt & C-
470. We'll check out the winter ducks, shorebirds,
raptors, and many other winter residents.
Sunday March 2nd 9am-Noon
Chatfield St Park with the Audubon Society
of Greater Denver
Look for our upcomming Optics and Digiscoping
workshop this Spring. The time and date TBA in the
next newsletter.
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| Thank you for supporting us at FRBC.Please enjoy these Photo Contest pictures |
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Bill Eden's 1st Place photo of Callipy Humminbird in
flight.
See Bill's photos on exibit at the Goodson Recreation
Facility (see details in the photo contest article above.)
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Dianne Kile's 2nd Place picture of a black fox in her
yard.
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Peggy Fairbank's 3rd Place photo of a black bear on
the back deck.
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FRONT RANGE SPECIES PROFILE: THE STREAKED BACKED ORIOLE |
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SELASPHORUS RUFUS
By Sara Nelson
If it seems strange to you to be profiling an oriole in
the middle of winter, that is your first clue that this is
an
unusual visitor to the Front Range. Beginning on
December 8th, a Streak-Backed Oriole was spotted in
a residential neighborhood in Loveland.
Normally streak-backed orioles live year-round in
northwestern Mexico to northern Costa Rica, only
occasionally being seen as far north as Arizona or
California. Individuals have also been recorded in
Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, and Wisconsin.
For whatever reason, this one decided to spend
Christmas right here in Colorado, making it a state
record. This oriole, either an adult female or juvenile
male, visited Connie and Al Kogler's backyard feeder
every morning between 7-7:30am and every one to
two
hours after.
For a little bird it attracted a great deal of attention. It
made both the Colorado Rare Bird Alert (www.cfo-
link.org) and the North American Rare Bird Alert
(www.narba.org), and over 425 people "flocked" to the
Kogler's Loveland home to be able to list the bird on
their life list. People visited from all over Colorado, as
well as Kansas, Wyoming, Nebraska and California.
Orioles, like hummingbirds, are nectar and insect
eaters, so while they visit us in the spring and
summer, they head south for the winter where their
natural diet is available. This bird, nicknamed Pedro
Maria, enjoyed a buffet of mealworms, jelly, suet and
fruit. He came to the feeders faithfully every day, until
noon on January 2, and has not been seen since.
Bill Eden who provided the incredible photos seen
here, says that, "Connie and Al Kogler are two very
generous people."� "They not only provided live meal
worms, grape jelly and suet for 'Pedro,' but opened up
their home for several weeks so�hundreds of people
could view this rare bird."� Bill had the pleasure of
seeing and observing the bird twice through Connie's
dining room window.� "All I can say,"�Bill
comments, �"is that this oriole is one lucky bird to
have�landed in the Kogler's yard!"
The Bullock's Oriole is the most common oriole seen
on the Front Range. They are described as "bright,
flashy birds," with orange bodies and black and white
wings. Feeders made especially for orioles provide
them with nectar, grape jelly and orange slices.
Orioles are usually found in areas by water, and have
nests that look like small baskets hanging from tree
limbs. They are a colorful addition to any backyard,
especially if they are a rare visitor from warm, sunny
Mexico!
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The Front Range Birding Company - A Proud Corporate Sponsor of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver
Winter Clearance sale- Long Sleeve Life Is Good Shirts and Winter Tilley Hats - 25% OFF! While Supplies last.
Great Optics are here at FRBC
CORINTHIAN BELLS IN STOCK- HANDMADE & HAND TUNED IN USA
CHECK OUT OUR FULL LINE OF DROLL YANKEE FEEDERS
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