Customer Reviews

The FeederWatcher's Guide to Bird Feeding

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book for anyone interested in learning about the birds who visit our backyard feeders. There are some good tips here--what types of feeders to select, what types of food to offer, how much cover is needed, etc. There is also a wonderful section on how to tell the difference between diffferent breeds of birds that look very similar, i.e. the House Finch and Purple Finch. Quite a bit of the book includes interviews with backyard feeder enthusiasts from different sections of the USA. I was pleased to see one from a town that is very close to my own.

The second half of the book lists, with photographs and commentary, the 50 most frequent visitors to backyard bird feeders in the USA. I really wish the list had included the top 100 (or more!) birds, as I'm often seeing birds at my feeders that are not on the list. Also, in some cases, there is only one picture of the named bird, and I much prefer it when there is a picture of both the male and female of the species in question.

It seems like I'm grabbing this book a lot though, so it has been quite a help to me.

I probably love birds more than any other 9-year old in America!! I have basically a library of bird books - and this is one of my best. It is educational, interesting and a treasure to me. It has helped to get 26 species at my feeders. It doesn't just tell you important bird feeding info, but is fascinating to read and learn from. My favorite section is "what the birds have taught us" about landscaping, food, feeders and water. I also dream of becoming a FeederWatcher - my parents say they will sign us all up. Plus this is a book in the Cornell Bird Library series, which makes it defiantly a good book.

I found this large-format field guide to feeding common backyard birds to be well laid out and very informative. The anecdotal references to various feeder sites across the country were interesting, and the material on field identification and feeding was well presented. This is a good book for bird feeding enthusiasts as well as novice bird feeders. Great pictures!

I picked this book up not thinking it was going to be much but I was totally wrong. This book is chocked full of info on feeding, feeders, pretty much every North American bird that would ever visit your feeder, full color pictures and even a few recipes!
I would definately recommend this book to anyone wanting to get to know more about their feathered friends. A kick arse book!

THIS BOOK IS EASY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND. I KEEP IT BY ME WHEN I AM WATCHING THE BIRDS AT MY FEEDERS OR IN MY YARD. A VERY EXCELLENT BOOK.

Margaret Barker and Jack Griggs work on this book is excellent. The feederWatcher's Guide to Bird Feeding is very well organized and informative. The book content is useful not only for the experienced bird feeder, but the novice as well. I love the bird photographs and having the opportunity to view a snapshot other bird feeding sites across the country.

but having a couple of good ones around can enhance the fun and improve the lot of birds during the difficult seasons. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology lists a few general principles:

-- watching through your windows means you don't have to brave the elements, and participating in its Project FeederWatch will help scientists track changes in bird populations.

-- black oil sunflower seeds attract the most types of birds, are nutritious and high in fat, and are easy for birds of all sizes to eat.

-- water greatly increases bird activity in your yard, especially dripping water; birds need it to drink and to bathe.

-- feeder placement can be something of an art form -- visible, dry, out of the weather, near friendly cover -- but cleanliness above all else.

The Lab recommends a number of books to enhance your knowledge. The The FeederWatcher's Guide to Bird Feeding leads the flock in the Lab's opinion for its breadth, clarity and timeliness.

Other good candidates according to the Lab include Birds at Your Feeder: A Guide to Feeding Habits, Behavior, Distribution and Abundance by Erica H. Dunn and Diane L. Tessaglia-Hymes, A Complete Guide to Bird Feeding by John V. Dennis and Wild about Birds: The Dnr Bird Feeding Guide by Carrol L. Henderson.

In warmer months, grow insects in your garden to attract the birds; Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas Tallamy is an excellent guide to doing so.

One other item I would dearly love to add is the Wingscapes WSCA01 BirdCam, a weatherproof, motion activated digital camera that will automatically snap still pictures or short bursts of video when a bird triggers its infra red sensor. It was duck soup to set up for a friend -- hang 18 inches from the feeder, adjust the focal length, install the hand-held remote control to over-ride the automatic feature, if desired, and wait. The birds didn't seem to be bothered at all -- the chickadees landed on it moments after I walked away.

Technical data is located on the BirdCam website; there will be broad hints around this house for a few months about what a great surprise present this camera would be.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This is a fun book if you're trying how to make happy residents of the birds in your yard. It's practical, real world advice from people who are experts at the work to help and track our feathered friends.

This is one of a series of books about bird feeding I bought here, and on Ebay. This one does an excellent job of offering good solid information in an interesting and enjoyable way, without getting too technical. And it also does not get bogged down and waste a lot of your money by taking up a great deal of book space describing different bird species. (No matter where you live, only a small portion of the hundreds of birds described will be indigenous in your area). I recommend this book. Especially for the novice feeder. But like all the other bird books I have reviewed here, I suggest you only order it with free shipping, or locate it used. Still a little pricey for what they want for it new including shipping...

Although this is a very attractive book with good size beautiful detailed pictures of birds, I was disappointed to discover that even though it is sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, it is not really " comprehensive ". For exanple it does not mention ospreys at all which nest in good numbers in my area. It briefly mentions bob whites which nest in my area, but there are no pictures of this bird or feeding information. There are many similar ommisions and some of the feeding information is limited and not always creative. For a newly published book of this type, I expected it to be " more state of the art ".