HOW TO FEED BACKYARD BIRDS

How and what to feed avian guests, with a gallery of common North American species.

Getting feathered visitors to hold still is a perennial problem for budding bird-watchers, but bird feeders offer opportunities for observation. Earley provides helpful suggestions aplenty—from types of feeders, including specialized designs and homemade ones constructed of plastic bottles or craft materials, to popular seeds and other foods like suet, fruit, and, with a recipe, an appetizing peanut butter spread. The author acknowledges the squirrel problem and offers clever strategies for foiling these fiendishly ingenious foragers (such as spring-loaded feeders); he also notes ways to dissuade finches, starlings, and other more aggressive birds to give shyer species places on the perch. And, as a sort of stretch goal, Earley provides guidance on persuading bolder sorts to feed out of an observer’s hand. All the birds depicted throughout chowing down in the close-up color photos are identified, and the common types posing in the appended gallery also come with lists of distinctive physical characteristics. Occasional naturalistic touches, like an image of a woodpecker eying a well-chewed animal carcass, underscore the message that birds are almost always quite able to find food on their own; still, Earley makes clear that backyard bird-watching is easy, fun, and educational.

An engaging invitation to see nature in action right outside the window.