Vol. 10 // This black-and-neon blue bird looks like a crescent moon 🌛

Found in New Guinea

Though this resplendent bird looks much like the Bird-of-Paradise you may have seen showing off his mating ritual in Planet Earth, its side-to-side dance moves and distinctive call led researchers to deem this a brand new species. 

The newly discovered bird was first caught on camera by researchers in New Guinea in 2016. While the Superb Bird-of-Paradise (the one on the show) forms an oval shape when showing off for a potential mate, this new species forms a crescent, with its body shaped like a waning moon (or waxing, depending on your point of view) pointed toward the ground. 

Fun fact: Both species share the electric blue tufts that peer out of pitch-black feathers to form the appearance of a neon pair of eyes and mustache.

Give a Hoot

Birding bits you should know about this week

🥾 Follow the yellow-bird road
There’s a newly-opened bird trail in British Colombia
Plan your visit to the gorgeous trails along the Pacific Flyway, or watch a short doc about birding and conservation in BC.

❄️ Ice ice birdie
How birds cope with frigid temperatures
Learn about how birds survive through winter, including how “tiny mitochondria act as furnaces.”

🪶 All together now
Margaret Atwood insists birds matter to everyone
The Booker Prize-winning author spoke to the Audubon Society about her avian interests and shared a few of her poems about our feathered friends.

🍃 Bird is the word
Growing up Maasai and the art of healing the Earth
Ole Riamit is a leader of the Maasai, an Indigenous tribe in Kenya. Here, he discusses how to bridge the Maasai’s deep knowledge of nature with modern conservation efforts, and how birds help the Maasai survive.

A Product We Love

Unique and worthy products from the wide world of birding you might enjoy

Partridge beeswax candle. This decorative friend comes in five colors and is made from 100% pure North American beeswax in New York. $30

Your Shot

An amazing bird photo taken by one of our community members. Submit yours to hello@flyingcolors.co to be considered for an upcoming edition!

Food for Your Flying Friends

We now offer Flying Colors premium organic wild bird food in a beautiful three-gallon carton, perfect for easy pouring, storing, and recycling.

Choose from three custom blends — all made with 100% USDA certified organic ingredients and hand-mixed with love in New York's Hudson Valley.

If you subscribe for regular FREE shipments, you receive 10% off. There’s no commitment, and you can cancel at any time. ✨

You said he was afraid of birds?

How could that be?

Someone so tall?

– “Fear of Birds” by Margaret Atwood

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About Us

Flying Colors makes premium organic wild bird food, offering ethically sourced, toxin-free seeds and nuts of the highest quality to nourish wild birds of all types and inspire birders of all ages. Each specialty blend and single origin creation is rigorously sourced & researched, and every jar is produced with love & packaged by hand in small batches in New York's Hudson Valley and tested in our own backyards.