Vol. 4 // California condors make an 80's comeback, AI invents new birds, and the Duke of Duckdom

Found in California and Arizona

The largest bird in North America is also among the most endangered, with only some 230 California Condors living in the wild today. But they’ve made a huge comeback since the ’80s, when there were only 22 of them. Their slow reproduction process is one reason the species’ recovery is taking so long; females lay only one egg at a time, and young birds can take eight years to reach sexual maturity.

With a wingspan of more than nine feet, they can stay in flight for hours searching for carcasses on the ground below. When they do locate carrion, they stuff themselves with up to three pounds of meat, and don’t need to eat again for a couple of weeks. 

Fun fact: These Condors have a long lifespan and may live up to 60 years!

Give a Hoot

Three birding bits you should know about this week.

👽 Welcome to our planet
These birds do not exist
This captivating (and hilarious) Twitter thread shows what happens when you train artificial intelligence to create birds from images of public domain bird illustrations from old books.

🌏 Mr. Worldwide
Far from home, a big, rare sea eagle finds devoted fans on the coast of Maine
There are only 4,000 Stellar’s Sea Eagles left in the world, and one of them is hanging out in Boothbay, Maine—far from its native Asia.

⚠️ Hard headed
Why woodpeckers can hammer without getting headaches
How woodpeckers have adapted to keep their brains safe from a whole lot of high impact.

A Product We Love

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

Birder’s Life List and Journal. In this birding journal from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, record your birding entries, sketch your sightings, and enjoy colorful illustrations from artist Rigel Stuhmiller. $19.95

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!

“I just wanna fly.”

– “Fly”
by Sugar Ray

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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.