Colleen Radebaugh of rural Rippey has seen 65 different species of birds this year, primarily from her window or her front porch. Colleen and her husband, Toni reside 3 miles southeast of Rippey on a heavily wooded farm which has allowed her to see Orioles, Hummingbirds, as well as Kestrels.
Colleen labors to feed the birds, and provide them water during the heat of the summer, and even in the winter, by providing electrical heaters that keep the water from freezing. She feeds them black oil sun flower seeds, and thistle seed also called Niger. She declares that Gold Finch love the Niger seeds.
In the winter months she provides an abundant supply of suet, and right now she is opening a jar of grape jelly every three days for the Orioles as they migrate.
Colleen as a young child was curious about nature. At this time she is creating a habitat for butterflies, working in her way to provide a sanctuary for monarch butterflies and a safe place for the caterpillars.
She began her bird watching when she was married in 1980, and has kept a monitoring system since 1990. In addition to her own documentation she reports her findings to the National Data base, as the agency studies birding trends. During the month of January she records every bird that she observes, and that is reported to Cornell University.
She and her husband Toni have built as well as purchased Bluebird and Kestrel bird houses. She describes Kestrels these as a small type of Falcon and has several nesting in the evergreens near her home.
Her passion for birding shows up on her personalized license plate “4 BRDS”, and she says she cannot wait to get home from her job at Midland Power to pursue that passion.
Oriole
Kestrel