Feed the Birds: Attract and Identify 196 Common North American Birds (Spiral Bound)

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A beautiful and useful book... Earley, one of Southwestern Ontario's birding experts, has useful and interesting sections about backyard habitat, feeders and nest boxes, engaging kids, foiling squirrels, identification of 196 species, and even hand-feeding birds.--Paul Nicholson "Calgary Herald" (10/18/2019 12:00:00 AM)

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Ideal for beginner birders... People can also learn how to build a feeder and how to involve children.--Barbara Geernaert "Guleph Today" (8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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As both an educator and a biologist, I loved Feed the Birds: Attract and Identify 196 Common North American Birds. The book by Chris Earley is a comprehensive resource on many of North America's most common bird species. It touches on how to bring them to your feeders and much more, including behavior, biology, distinguishing characteristics, and range maps. On top of all these great features, the photos are outstanding! This is a must for anyone who enjoys backyard birding.--Julie Travaglini "Green Teacher Magazine" (1/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)

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If you are interested in attracting birds to your backyard, you need this book. Its design is just right for helping readers attract birds, identify them, and create an environment that will help to see how they behave and how they make adaptations to the places they live... This conversational book provides helpful tips, clear and close-up photographs, identification guides, range maps, preferred foods and seeds, behaviors, as well as instructions for building feeders, discouraging squirrels, and getting your kids involved. It's a perfect outdoor activity as the weather warms. If you are thinking about planting a garden for the first time, Chris also gives guidance for the plants that will entice birds to your backyard.-- "Sal's Fiction Addiction" (5/16/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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Designed as a resource for beginners and experienced birdwatchers alike, this guide covers 196 bird species that are attracted to backyard bird feeders. Topics include how to identify birds and understand their behaviour and adaptations to the environment. A wide variety of feeders and seed types are presented with helpful tips on how to attract the largest variety of birds. A recommended resource for any individual working with children.-- "Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens 2020" (7/1/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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Earley's book immediately caught my attention and renewed my enthusiasm for this amazing experience... Chapters on bird behavior, biology and identification are written with the knowledge of an expert ornithologist; however, they are down-to-earth enough for a novice to learn. The way the information is put together is logical and reader friendly. Photographs throughout Earley's 296-page guide capture the personalities of 196 bird species, the common characters we enjoy so much.--Sally Peterson "The Oregonian" (12/8/2019 12:00:00 AM)

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An excellent resource for beginner birdwatchers and experienced birders alike... I found the two-page Bird Quick-Find Guide at the beginning of the book particularly helpful. This photographic summary helped me quickly pinpoint which species group my sighting might belong to and directed me to the right page for a closer look.--Jaklynn Nimec "Ontario Nature Magazine" (3/1/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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The perfect book for the backyard birder. It includes information on creating a bird-friendly backyard, bird feeders, bird behaviour and bird identification. The text is accompanied by beautiful photographs that will help readers identify birds.-- "Brandon Sun" (4/23/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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Chock full of photos both large and small, this book details how to enjoy birdwatching in your own yard. Personal observations from Chris Earley explain birds' behaviour and the benefits of various kinds of feeders. The last half of the book is a guide to identifying birds across North America.-- "Niagara Escarpment Views" (3/1/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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Feed the Birds is a spectacular and lavishly illustrated volume that would be perfect for anyone who enjoys birds -- their appearance, their behavior, and their presence on feeders. It is appropriate for middle school, high school, college, and adult readers. In addition to an index, Feed the Birds includes a fill-in chart for recording the reader's bird experiences, a list of references, and suggestions for further reading. As you enjoy this book, remember that "the Earley bird gets the worm."--Amanda L. Glaze-Crampes "American Biology Teacher" (1/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)

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Well-illustrated with crisp, clean and often dynamic photos.--Bruce Kirkland "OFO News" (10/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)

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This guide will help you find what specific things you need to attract the birds you are looking for.--Liberty Hardy "Book Riot" (10/25/2022 12:00:00 AM)

Biographical Note:

Chris Earley is a zoologist and environmental biologist. He is the Interpretive Biologist and Education Coordinator at The Arboretum, University of Guelph. His previous books include Falcons in the City, Warblers of the Great Lakes Region and Eastern North America, and Birds A to Z. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.

"Informative and practical... This guide, filled with richly colorful photos, is enthusiastically recommended for birders, bird watchers, and anyone else who cares about birds' role in our precariously fragile environment."
--Booklist

Feeding birds is growing in popularity and is enjoyed by over 50 million North Americans each year.

Feed the Birds is designed as a resource for beginners and experienced birdwatchers alike. Covering 196 bird species that are attracted to backyard bird feeders, this book helps the reader not only attract and identify birds but also understand their behavior and adaptations to the environment. A wide variety of feeders and seed types are presented with helpful tips on how to attract the largest variety of birds.

Each profile for the 196 featured species includes a variety of photographs, an identification guide, a range map, information on bird seed and natural food preferences, and behavior. Other topics include:

• Why feeding birds is important
• Building do-it-yourself feeders
• Foiling squirrels
• Attracting birds with natural foods and water
• Building shelters and nest boxes
• Involving children
• Photographing birds
• Hand feeding
• Recognizing individual birds and identifying similar-looking species
• Growing plant varieties that make a garden attractive to birds.

The book also contains information on how to choose the right seeds; the importance of ensuring all windows are bird-safe (with links to organizations that work to reduce bird-window collision); cat-friendly deterrents; and citizen science activities like the annual Christmas Bird Count and Project Feederwatch. Feed the Birds is a complete guide that should be near every bird enthusiast's window.

Endorsed by the Canadian Wildlife Federation, a conservation-oriented organization with more than 250,000 members. CWF has a long history of fostering bird habitat, conservation and recognition.

Review Citations:

• Booklist 03/01/2020 pg. 12 (EAN 9780228102014, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:Earley, Chris

Chris Earley is a zoologist and environmental biologist. He is the Interpretive Biologist and Education Coordinator at The Arboretum, University of Guelph. His previous books include Falcons in the City, Warblers of the Great Lakes Region and Eastern North America, and Birds A to Z. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.