BOOK REVIEW: Attracting Birds to Your Backyard 536 Ways to Create a Haven for Your Favorite Birds by Sally Roth

Backyard birders will love this book for its inclusion not just of common little birds, but large birds as well such as owls, pheasants, quail, and even roadrunners.  It's a big, rugged paperback with full-color drawings on every glossy page.  The table of contents consists of an exhaustively diverse group of topics from Acorns to Zone Map (of USDA Plant Hardiness Zones) all arranged alphabetically. 

The author offers plenty of personal experience when addressing each topic:  she goes into detail on things she has or hasn't observed. You can dive in and read a succinct, well-written page on whatever topic you want: 

• birds (Jays, Juncos, Killdeer, Orioles, et cetera);
• types of bird food (Millet, Nectar, Peanut Butter, et cetera);
• plants for birds (Groundcovers, Honeysuckles, Pines, Roses, et cetera);
• bird behavior (Courtship, Flight, Nesting, Roosting, et cetera);
• interaction with birds (First Aid for Birds, Hand Taming, Photography et cetera),
• and even seasonal stuff to do for birds (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter Almanacs)

Along with the informative pages on each topic, you get several different types of fact-packed additions.  There are tables such as Favorite Annuals for Birds, Best Berry Plants for Birds,  Types of Birdhouses for Every Bird, and more.  There are How-to pages that give step-by-step instruction in projects like baking mini-muffin treats for birds, constructing a bird fountain,  and building a birdhouse.

Perhaps most interesting are the sidebars titled "The Wide World of Backyard Birds" that offer anecdotes from the author's, and other birders' experience.  One amusing story on page 38 details how the author found a slab of slate with a round hole bored in it, and brought it back to prop it against a tree in her garden as an ornament.  Then she noticed several birds approaching, wiggling through the hole, and landing on the ground in astonishment at not finding themselves inside a cozy nesting cavity.  She finally had to move the slate so as not to prolong their frustration!

Finally, if you're looking for interesting bird facts, this is the book for you. For example, on page 11, it describes a behavior known as "anting":  a bird such as a blue-jay will often hold an ant in his beaks and wipe it all over his wings and feathers as if it's a sponge and he's giving himself a bath.  Ants produce a formic acid which is known to repel pests, so it's thought that "anting" might be a bird's way of smearing bug-repellant on himself! According to Roth, jays aren't the only birds that "ant":  others who do it include tanagers, starlings, and robins.

Here at the Ornate Bird Garden, I highly recommend Attracting Birds to Your Backyard 536 Ways to Create a Haven for Your Favorite Birds by Sally Roth.

Related Links: Birds Garden Projects for the Birder’s Garden Attracting Birds to Your Backyard is available from Amazon through this link:   Attracting Birds to Your Backyard: 536 Ways to Create a Haven for Your Favorite Birds (A Rodale Organic Gardening Book)