BACKYARD BIRDS OF WINTER

by Carol Lerner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1994

An excellent introduction to the birds found on or around the feeder in winter. Lerner (Plants That Make You Sniffle and Sneeze, 1993, etc.) answers all manner of birding questions: How do birds stay warm? Why do you see them at some times and not at others? Where do they go at night? Why have some vanished altogether? Thumbnail sketches of more than 40 winter visitors follow, including old pals like chickadees and cardinals, the furtive red-bellied woodpecker, and true eye-popping wanderers like evening grosbeaks and common redpolls (the last capable of dropping by in numbers well over 100). Lerner has fun taking some sly pokes at English sparrows, rock doves, and starlings -- nasty, befouling creatures, and imports at that. Shot through with bird histories and lore, the book concludes with notes on bird food and feeders (some built with everyday items found around the house). Lerner's illustrations are meticulously crude, as disarmingly enjoyable as the rest of the book. Birdfeeders are as hypnotic as ocean waves and hearth fires. If you are going to daydream, you might as well be informed, and Lerner gives young birders all the needed tools.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994

Categories: CHILDREN'S