Customer Reviews

The Complete Birdhouse Book: The Easy Guide to Attracting Nesting Birds

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I want to know the basics...which birds use birdhouses, & what the basic dimensions for my targeted species are. What nesting materials do thew use...etc.. This book does a great job of doing that. I do NOT want my birdhouses to be clones of some boring plan out of a book. Get creative! Use this basic info & create your own unique backyard!

Sorry previous writer was so disapointed, but he's right in one respect......if you want assorted detailed building plans...go elsewhere.

This book contains only one simple plan. It is a good book for novice woodworkers or bird watchers. However (like all books from the Stokes') the book is very interesting and easy to read. It provides a good foundation from which to learn the basics of bird house construction. More experienced woodworkers will be disappointed with this book and would be better served by purchasing a book of bird house plans.

I've always liked the Stokes books and CDs. Their love for birds is apparent in all their material. The photographs are rich and lively, and the books are simple yet elegant and informative.

However, if you're interested in building birdhouses, this book will fall short. There's only one plan for the simplest house you can imagine, and anyone who would appreciate the book's other charms probably won't think highly of such a simple birdhouse. There are some interesting houses pictured, but little about how to build them...

Even though there's only 1 plan, you do learn what some specific needs of some specific birds are. You can buy simple kits to assemble at houses4birds.com

Through 45 years as an avid birdwatcher (I am 53), more than 30 as a natural history interpreter and educator, 17 years as a park service biologist, and currently the manager of a nature center; I have read at least a dozen books about bird house design, scanned (and passed) on many more, and read probably a hundred books that devoted at least a chapter to the topic. Many of the best I still own, but I know of no better value when it comes to providing solid guidance on birdhouse (cavity box) design, or explanations of the reasoning behind decisions regarding various dimensions and features, than "The Complete Birdhouse Book: The Easy Guide to Attracting Nesting Birds," by Don and Lillian Stokes (1990).

If you are already skilled and into serious "woodcraft," or wish to learn carpentry skills, you may be disappointed by the designs provided - they are few and simple (but then, on the other hand, how sweet is that?). When choosing a home to nest in, birds really don't care how beautiful your house looks to people, just to their potential mates, and a great many cavity nesters (for example: screech owls, bluebirds, tyrant flycatchers, & woodpeckers) have very similar requirements in a nest box, the main differences being the dimensions of the box and of its entrance hole, and where the box(es) are installed. The Stokes book keeps it simple, but covers the most important stuff very well. This book has few flaws or omissions, and it just might be the best value out there - if you are looking for one book - just to get started (or to interest someone else) building bird houses with really good designs and features intended to benefit the inhabitants more than any admirers of your woodworking skills. I find it an ideal gift for young naturalists, and a superb source of projects for parent & child, home-schoolers, 4-H and Scouts, and as a source for craft projects that can teach basic woodshop skills while also producing a useful product and encouraging an interest in the appreciation of nature.

Our [....] has recently become very interested in identifying birds. We have tons in our backyard after putting out a feeder, so we wanted to build a house so we can watch them nest--as a beginner, where do you begin?

We orderd this on a whim & because it was only 83 cents on amazon, The Complete Birdhouse Book--The Easy Guide to Attracting Nesting Birds by Donald & Lillian Stokes. When it arrived I was overjoyed with how wonderful this book is--it is full color, talks in-depth about the bird life-cycle with full color pictures & specifically what different birds need in a home--and thus, how to construct it! What beginner ever knew the hole size, hole to floor measurement & inside dimensions & total height were so important--not to mention where it is placed & what type of things to leave in your yard for nesting material! Also, how to control predators & pests & other useful information. Now we know what our titmice, cardinal, chickadees, & hairy woodpecker prefer! Full color pictures again & highly educational---a good companion for anyone wanting to attract birds to their yard!

Our favorite bird guide--the indexing is superb for my [....] trying to find a bird in it--is the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America. It has good pics of male, female & juvenile & easy to understand maps. We supplement it with the DK Guide to Eastern birds of North America--it has great pictures & info on each bird, the eggs, nesting, food, etc--more detail than just the field guide--very educational! We're loving God's wild world in our back yard!

This a about attracting nesting birds to a birdhouse near you! Not a how-to book for birdhouse makers. It should not have been given a one star rating for not living up to what it what not designed to be.

Do you want to know which birds will likely go to what type, and size, and opening, and location of a birdhouse? Then you will so appreciate this presentation. Great photos and illustrations. Easy to read. And a sections on identifying a number of the birds you will likely see.

And, yes, it does give an example or two on building a birdhouse, as a starting place for creating your own shelter for the feathered friends we so love.

Everything I've seen that this couple does is top notch; this outstanding treatise is no exception. If you love birding, and close at home bird watching, then buy it, you won't be disappointed.

I bought this book in spite of several bad reviews and am grateful that I did. I think it is excellent for the beginning bird house builder as well as the advanced work worker.

It's good for the beginner because it explains the basics and gives one or two very simple, easy to build designs that will work. It also explains what is important in getting birds to use them and why.

It's good for a more experienced birder/woodworker because it gives you something far more valuable than a cookie cutter plan - it gives you the critical entrance hole and box dimensions required for each species. Armed with this information, a good woodworker can create their own designs and be as creative as they like. After all, a birdhouse is essentially a box with a hole in it. Detailed plans aren't required, at least not for the things the birds care about (entrance holes, box dimensions, placement).

If you aren't comfortable doing basic woodworking yet, do yourself a favor a buy a book devoted to the subject. And if all you care about is pretty designs - regardless of whether birds use them - look elsewhere. But if your primary goal is getting birds to nest in your birdhouses, buy this book.

I purchased this book when I needed very basic information about attracting nesting birds. This book provides that basic information in a very easy-to-read and easy-to-understand format. I learned about different types of birdhouses -- something I never even thought of before reading this book. All in all, though, I felt as if I wanted more information than this book provided.

This was just the book I was looking for. I have been feeding many wild birds for a long time. Now that I moved to an even more remote forest, and am feeding and observing my new avian friends here, I've been wanting to build a couple of bird houses. Most importantly, I wanted to know about the size, hole dimensions, placement, etc., for different species. This book explains all that and more very clearly. I want functional, safe bird houses, not just cute decorative ones.