Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season

Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season

Is one of your favorite greetings “See any interesting birds lately?” Does your backyard have more birdhouses than everyone in your neighborhood combined? Are you always looking for new ways to lure that elusive bluebird to your feeder? If so, you and Sally Roth are birds of a feather! She’s an expert when it comes to migratory patterns, mating rituals, nesting habits, you name it—so much so that her Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season is almost a master class in ornithology. But this is much more than just a guide to what you need to know to attract a variety of feathered creatures to your neck of the woods: it’s a wonderful tribute to bird watching from a birder who’s as passionate about bird watching as they come. Color photos.

Read an excerpt:
Seed-Producing Flowers for Birds
Try a mixed “cottage garden” of some of these easy-to-grow flowers. Just sprinkle packets of seeds onto prepared soil and keep it moist until they sprout. Some of these seeds are so desirable that birds will begin visiting the moment the seeds swell and ripen, to hang on the plants and pluck them off; others will be used by birds for months, from late summer into winter, and many of these will be picked up off the ground by native sparrows, juncos, towhees, doves, and other seed eaters.
Amaranth (Amaranthus species)
Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)
Cockscomb (Celosia species)
Calliopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)
Cosmos, Sensation-type (Cosmos bipinnatus)
Purple coneflowers (Echinacea species)
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)
Blanketflower (Gaillardia species)
Sunflowers, any variety (Helianthus annuus)
Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Mexican hat (Ratibida columnaris)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Marigolds (Tagetes species)
Zinnias (Zinnia species)
—From the book Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season

Softcover: 352 pages

Publisher: Rodale Press, Inc. ( February 03, 2009 )

Item #: 62-0833

ISBN: 1594869111

Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.125 x 0.0 inches

Product Weight: 29.0 ounces