Vol. 51 // Do the dazzling dance of the Sandhill Crane 💃...

Volume 51 • September 8, 2023

Welcome to
🦜 The Flyer 🦜
by Flying Colors

Every month, we share original content written by the Flying Colors team, fascinating stories & tidbits from the world of birding, curated products, epic bird photos, and more.

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Bird of the Week: The Sandhill Crane

Photo by Joshua Torres (Unsplash)

Found in the Americas

Hear Their Calls

Large and in charge, Sandhill Cranes can stand four feet tall and have a wingspan of more than five feet! They can be differentiated from other Cranes by the red mask around their eyes, white cheeks, and gray wings with some brown tinging. They’re also known for their fabulous dancing, aka their mating ritual, during which they leap around each other, spread their wings, and make jovial clicking sounds.

Once the babies are born, they stick around: they start to follow their parents around the marsh once they’re a day old, then stay with them for the next 10 months, during which their parents guide them through their first migration.

Fun fact: Sandhill Cranes’ trumpeting calls are so strong, they can be heard up to 2.5 miles away.

Photo by Chris Briggs (Unsplash)

Birds Love Our Organic Bird Food!

Flying Colors’ stylish organic wild bird food is made with 100% USDA certified organic ingredients that birds love.

Choose from five custom blends — Pine Plains, Woodstock, Millbrook, Black Oil Sunflower, and Squirrel-Proof Safflower — all made with 100% USDA certified organic ingredients like, sunflower hearts and safflower, and hand-mixed with love in New York's Hudson Valley.

Purchase one of our beautiful three-gallon cartons today!

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Give a Hoot

Birding bits you should know about this week

Photo by Chris Briggs (Unsplash)

📷 Birds-eye view
Secret tips for bird photography
Have a half hour to spare? Learn how to take better pictures of our feathery friends from a couple of photographers enjoying the wildlife along the UK’s seaside cliffs. Plus, see their beautiful pictures along the way.

🦉 Birding guru
Catching up with Christian Cooper, host of “Extraordinary Birder”
Learn about Cooper’s seven pleasures of birding and his experience on his National Geographic TV show.

❓ Whodunnit?
The mystery of the vanishing Kestrels
Why are American Kestrel populations declining while so many other raptor species are on the upswing?

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!

The language of cranes

we once were told

is the wind. The wind

is their method,

their current, the translated story

of life they write across the sky.

--“The Sandhills” by Linda Hogan

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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.

Vol. 51 // Do the dazzling dance of the Sandhill Crane 💃