Vol. 9 // Meet the bird who has an umbrella for a chin ⛱️

Found in Colombia and Ecuador

The Long-Wattled Umbrellabird could probably fit right in on the fashion runways of Milan. Male birds have a dramatic, body-length "wattle" hanging from their necks which they can extend or retract on command! The wattle gets longer when they’re showing off and then tightens up during flight. 

These birds are a rare sight in the rainforests of Colombia and Ecuador, but they can be spotted foraging for fruit in trees, or during mating season when males gather to display their impressive wattles and call out with longing hoots to choosy females.

As the rainforests continue to disappear, these birds are more and more threatened; they’re currently classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Fun fact: Long-Wattled Umbrellabirds have rounded crests atop their heads that look a bit like furry hats, or a ’50s pompadour hairstyle. They live for the applause!

Give a Hoot

Birding bits you should know about this week

🏠 Home sweet home
The man handmaking homes for Austin’s Screech Owls
Austin, Texas resident Marshall May made 30 homes for the Screech Owls of Peasant Park. Read (and watch) him talk about the 372 (!) boxes he’s put up around town so far.

📸 Strike a pose
Birdwatching magazine’s 2021 Bird Portrait Contest finalists
Click through the stunning photographs that made the final cut, along with the photographers’ stories of capturing the moment.

🥚 Playin’ around
A soothing tabletop game about birds
Birder Brian Anderson walks you through the calm, team-oriented game of Wingspan.

🌧️ Singing in the rain
On Colombo’s outskirts, an urban birding paradise flourishes
Learn about the 100 bird species taking flight on an urban wetland in the heart of Sri Lanka.

A Product We Love

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

Bird Brains, the trivia game for bird lovers. Okay birders, how much do you really know about birds? Find out with 300 questions about bird anatomy, appearance, behavior and much more. $29.95

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!

Give Your Backyard Birds the Best

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. ✨

Did you ever know that you're my hero

And everything I would like to be?

I can fly higher than an eagle

For you are the wind beneath my wings

—Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler

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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.