Volume 52 • October 6, 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 Bobolink
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Found in the Americas
 Hear Their Calls
It may be spooky season, but no, it’s not the Babadook; it’s the Bobolink! The tinkling, staccato song of the Bobolink is infectious; males have two songs that each consist of 25–50 notes doled out at bullet speed in a fixed sequence over just 3.5 seconds. They are also the only North American male songbirds that are black on their stomachs and white on their backs, with a telltale sunny patch on the back of their heads. The feathers of males and nonbreeding males have streaks of brown with warm yellow highlights.
Right now Bobolinks are migrating 12,000 miles south to warmer climates—those in the southeast of the United States should look for them in the grassy fields they like to frequent. As they migrate their diet consists of rice and grains (their species name, oryzivorus, means “rice eating”), and you can attract them to your yard by dispersing rice, sorghum (a grassy grain), and oats.
Fun fact: A Bobolink may travel the equivalent of 4 or 5 times around the circumference of the earth within its lifetime.
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Birds Love Our Organic Bird Food!
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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!
Are you a happy customer? Leave us a review on Google!
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Give a Hoot
Birding bits you should know about this week
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⏪ Watch
Kingfishers diving in slow motion
Check out the underwater view—the Kingfisher moves so quickly that its prey doesn’t even notice him.
🦜 Feast Your Eyes
Birds of the World: The Art of Elizabeth Gould
Elizabeth Gould illustrated some of the most important ornithology books of the 19th century, but her well-known husband, the “Bird Man” John Gould, took most of the credit for her work. This hardcover book, which will be released on November 7, showcases her stunning illustrations. Read more about Elizabeth’s oft-forgotten story on our website.
🌙 Night Moves
How to go birding in the middle of the night
Listen to this short podcast on how you can improve your birding skills by learning to identify birds’ short, witching hour calls.
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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!
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Some keep the Sabbath going to Church –
I keep it, staying at Home –
With a Bobolink for a Chorister –
And an Orchard, for a Dome –
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I, just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going, all along.
— “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” by Emily Dickinson
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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.
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