Customer Reviews

The Hummingbird Book: The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Enjoying Hummingbirds

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great book for anyone who wants to attract and feed hummingbirds, it's packed with all the basic information you'll need, starting with choosing the right feeder for your area, the sugar solution to put in it, and the maintenance and cleaning of it, which the Stokes say: "We can't emphasize enough how important it is to take feeder maintenance seriously", as any mold or bacteria can be "risking the health, and possibly the lives", of these jeweled wonders of the bird family...and they show you the easy steps to be taken to keep the feeders clean.

There are also 6 pages on orioles, who can be seen sometimes at hummer feeders. It gives a "quick guide" to 8 species of these beautiful birds, with lovely photos to help identification. It also shows how one can set up feeders specifically for orioles, and the sugar solution to use, which is slightly different from that of the hummer mixture.

Chapters on the "Hummingbird Habitat" and "Gardening", give you a list of plants and flowers that hummers like the most, by geographical region. "Amazing Facts" truly is amazing. Among the many fascinating things you'll learn is that their heart can beat 1,260 times per minute, but can sometimes slow down to 50 beats per minute at night to conserve energy. There are other chapters on "Myths", "Baby Hummingbirds", and "Photographing Hummingbirds".

Nearly half the book is devoted to the identification of the different species, with photos, maps, behaviour patterns, and much more. Once you've identified your visitors, you'll get to know the idiosyncrasies of the species, and it's sure to add to the joy and delight of watching these miraculous little creatures.

I was so impressed with the depth of the study, and the over-all content of this book, and yet it is very comprehensive. I am a new Hummer-lover, and I definitely recommend this colorful book to the newcomer because it is so thorough. I was able to easily identify the species that visit my deck every morning, and discover the variety of flowers they prefer, and even predict their behavior. This book is a veritible wealth of information on common and rare Hummers that has made me appreciate these beautiful and delicate little creatures even more that I did before! What an awesome Creator we have!

This work, like most of those by Donald and Lillian Stokes is well written, informative, useful and simply a joy to read. The subject here, of course, is Hummingbirds. The authors also do give us several very nice pages (6) addressing orioles, a common visitor to feeders. The photographs in this book are quite good and the authors actually tell and show us their technique of photographing these amazing creatures.

Probably the most important chapter in this work is the one covering the types, maintenance and placement of the hummingbird feeder. Some of the other subjects well covered are creating Hummingbird habitat, Hummingbird gardening, nesting habits, flight behavior, amazing facts, Hummingbird myths and very importantly, the identification of these little creatures which are found here in North America. Each species is given due coverage and no area of the country is left out. I enjoyed the section devoted to the various kinds of flowers which are Hummingbird friendly. The Stokes have given us specific information here, seldom found in other volumes.

As to the identification of the various species found here, the authors have given us a great over view of the eight major species, their range, habits, migration patterns and some wonderful photographs to help in identification. The hardcore birder will of course want additional field guides, as several species, usually found in small pockets along our southern border are not covered. This is not major flaw though, as most individuals that are very much into the hobby of birding, already have a trunk full of guides. The authors have also included a very nice section on other resources, books, videos, companies that provide feeders, etc.

All in all, this is a very nice book to own and certainly one that you will want to add to your collection

This is a very useful guide to attracting and caring for these hummingbirds, with great photographs supplementing text that is well-written and filled with wonderful advice and tips about feeders, habitat, gardens, identification and further resources. Sections also detail behavior, photography, babies and feeder problems. Nicely done and very helpful.

Great photos, trivia, information about how to attract the hummers and a lot of solid
information about the different species and much more. Also has nice section on which flowers
are good for attracting hummers . Price is right and it is a good resource as well.
You will not be disappointed. In addition it is easy to read.

A wonderful book on the wonderful hummingbird. I am more informed on the little hummers now. I love seeing them visit our oudoor feeder.

I had this book previously. When I moved from a house to a condo, I gave this book to the Bird Club to my friends so they could use it to help them attract Hummingbirds. Living in a Condo, we have a Balcony. You can't put seed feeders out but you can still attract Hummingbirds with nectar. I realized this is an important book for me always to have. I purchased this book again. Every year we attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds all summer long.

beautiful pictures and great information for new and old hummingbird watchers. This book was included with various hummingbird feeders as a gift for my brother. I wanted him to enjoy watching the hummingbirds in his yard.

Purchased this book as a gift for my mother-in-law and we have all enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures to indentify the hummingbirds that visit her feeder. Gives lots of helpful advice on care and maintenance on the feeders as well.

When I bought this three years ago I was in the process of learning how to photograph hummingbirds in my backyard. It has a chapter on Photographing Hummingbirds which was just what I was looking for. They explain how to take photos of the birds which produce nice sharp wings rather than the blurred, sometimes nonexistent ones that I was getting. The Stokes use quite a number of stunning photos, diagrams, charts, maps and succinct text to provide the reader information on the important topics. I have quite a few books on hummingbirds but this is the one I use the most. Excellent guide.
Barbara Kurtz
Author of A Hummingbird's Story: How I Came to Be (a childrens book for all ages)