Helpful for any birdbrain - Birds in Your Backyard

My husband loves birds. Big birds, little birds, birds in a cage, outside, on TV. If he sees a bird it has his attention. As long as I've known him (15 years) he's always been a bit of a bird brain so when I saw the book Birds in your Backyard: A Bird Lover's Guide to Creating a Garden Sanctuary I knew I had to get it for his birthday.

Birds in your Backyard was written in 2005 by Robert J. Dolezal and published by Reader's Digest. The list price on the inside of the dustjacket says $26.95. I bought it for $15 from Books Are Fun and also found it on Amazon for $16.98. This is a hardcover book with 272 full-color pages.

Birds in your Backyard takes birdwatching a step further by providing helpful ideas for bird lovers to create a sanctuary for birds in their own backyards that goes beyond simple, store-bought feeders, houses, and birdseed. The book includes a landscaping guide which lists the best flowers and plants to grow to attract birds. There's also a how-to guide for making your own birdbaths, ponds, perches, houses, and feeders and it also explains how to make your own seed mixes and special treats. And then there's the field guide which identifies they types of birds that may come to your feeders and explains how to identify them and which foods they like best.

Birds in your Backyard consists of eight chapters.

Chapter 1 is titled Rewards of Backyard birds. and discusses the basics of birds and birdwatching and why it is important and enjoyable to attract them to your yard.

Chapter 2 is titled Creating Bird Gardens in Home Landscapes. This chapter explains how to choose a bird sanctuary site, how to choose plants and features, nesting, perches, shelter, water features, and plans.

Chapter 3 is titled Bird Gardens at Home and discusses feeders and how to mount them, birdhouses, predators, providing fresh water, pumps and filters, ponds, and other desirable features. This chapter also includes 27 DIY projects.

Chapter 4 is titled Plantscapes to Attract Birds and which types of plants provide natural food for birds, and also has a section about attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. There is a section about plants that provide support for nests as well as preparing the garden bed.

Chapter 5 is titled Feed & Seed Basics and discusses the various types of natural and artificial bird feed, recipes for mixing your own blends and baking feeder cakes, growing your own birdseed, seasonal feeding, bird feeder care, overcoming pests and problems.

Chapter 6 is titled Bird-Watching and discusses how to identify and recognize birds, flight, territory and mating, nesting and shelter, migration, bird songs, endangered species, and equipment such as binoculars and cameras.

Chapter 7 is the Field Guide to Backyard Birds and lists common North American birds with illustrations, sizes, descriptions, characteristics, and a map which indicates each bird's breeding, winterizing, and migration ranges. This field guide includes a special section for common hummingbirds and butterflies as well. The field guide is printed on butter yellow colored paper so the reader can quickly and easily find this section when they need to identify a bird quickly.

Chapter 8 is titled Plants to Attract Birds and discusses flowering plants (both annual and perennial), ground covers, vines and ornamental grasses, and shrubs and small trees.

The only thing I don't like about this book are they symbols in the field guide that accompany each bird. There are little symbols that explain the habitats but the legend to these symbols is not included in the field guide. I did finally find the legend on page 154 of chapter 6 though but it's kind of a pain to find a symbol in chapter seven that you have to find the legend to in chapter 6 which is at least 20 pages back. It should be with the field guide.

I really like this book. I gave it to my husband for his birthday and we have already implemented some of the ideas when creating our new landscape bed and bird sanctuary that we finished about a month ago. As I write this, I am sitting at my kitchen table looking out the window into the sanctuary and it's just loaded with birds. I see two grackels, a few red winged blackbirds, lots of sparrows, a squirrel and a chipmunk. There's also a woodpecker lurking about in a nearby tree and some doves underneath the feeder, pecking up the seed that has fallen out of the feeder. Tonight around dusk, a beautiful doe might wander through as she often does to take a sip out of the birdbath or chew on an apple or carrot I've left out. The new garden sanctuary seems to be much enjoyed by lots of birds and critters and my husband and I enjoy watching them. Our cats are much more stimulated and inquisitive as well from the new wildlife that flocks to our yard (they're indoor cats) and I hear them chirping at the birds often throughout the day.

Book info as copied from Amazon.com
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Readers Digest (October 21, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN: 0762104953
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.17 pounds

My book came with an special bonus but I'm not sure if mine is a special edition or whether all books come with this. It included a postcard for a free one year subscription to Birds & Blooms magazine.