Vol. 18 // Be honest, do you *really* know how birds fly? 🪶☁️

Swimming weather is here! (via @birding_by_ear)

Found in North and Central America

Hear Their Song

Sigh. Do you hear that? It’s the melancholy song of the Mourning Dove. To human ears, their low, slow calls (coo-OO-oo) sound like a lament, a universal sound of loss or regret.

These doves may be a common sight (there are 350 million of them in the U.S.), but their genteel looks and emotive coos have made them beloved to many. They can both be seen on high — perched on fences, church towers, and telephone poles — as well as down low, foraging on the ground for dropped seeds.

Mourning Doves can store up to 17,000 seeds in their crop, or an expansion of the esophagus; they eat up to 20 percent of their body weight every day! You can put up a nesting cone to attract mating pairs, or scatter millet seeds in your yard.

Fun fact: ​​When Mourning Doves take off for flight, their wings make a sharp whistling sound.

Give a Hoot

Birding bits you should know about this week

Learn
🪶 How do birds fly?
It’s all about lift and the science of wings.

Look
👀 Southwestern Ontario “sewage lagoon” becomes oasis for rare-bird lovers
The Marsh Sandpiper visited Ontario for the very first time!

Laugh
📺 Cat TV
Here’s eight hours of TV for your cat—featuring nonstop footage of feeding, flitting, flying birds. (No birds were harmed in the making of this cat distraction.)

They'll love Flying Colors premium organic wild bird food, now available 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. ✨

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!

Hope is the thing with feathers  

That perches in the soul,  

And sings the tune without the words,  

And never stops at all

– “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson

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Questions? Ideas? Epic bird photos? Reach out at hello@flyingcolors.co

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.