How to bring birds to your home and keep them there--including 250 full-color photos They're out there every day, flashing through your yard, perching in a tree, collecting on utility wires, or congregating around puddles. They already share your backyard and neighborhood with you, but you--even if you are already one of America's more than 68 million birders--haven't formally invited them over for dinner. This book shows you how. Backyard Birding helps you maximize your home birding experiences and attract a wider variety of birds. With 250 full-color photos and concise, informative text, it provides indispensable details on what foods, plants, trees, water sources, and nesting materials will attract particular species. It helps you make the right choices the first time--and avoid costly mistakes. As an identification guide, it goes further than any previous resource in clarifying such matters as male/female plumage variations and breeding vs. nonbreeding plumage. Randi and Nic Minetor traveled from Florida to Alaska to photograph the hundreds of species in these pages. The result is a compendium from America's backyards to your fingertips, with information useful in whatever climate or habitat your own backyard may provide. * 250 vibrant full-color photos capturing birds in stunning detail* Focus on top 24 birds found nationally as well as in Eastern and Western locations* Picture index of all the birds found throughout the book for easy reference* Seasonal bird feeding checklists
About the Author: A birder since she spotted her first kingfisher in Girl Scout day camp, Randi Minetor has traveled the country to rack up a North American life list of nearly 500 species from Florida to Alaska. In her home state of New York, she participates in birding science endeavors including the 2000-2004 State Breeding Bird Atlas project, the Nature Conservancy's lakeshore songbird migration study in the 1990s, and the annual Christmas Bird County for nearly twenty years. She has contributed to Bird Watcher's Digest, and has served on the board of the Rochester Birding Association. In addition, she is the communications chair of the Genesee Land Trust board of directors, giving her considerable access to information about native species, habitat restoration and creation, and the greenest practices for maintenance of open spaces. Nic Minetor has provided photography for more than a dozen books published by Globe Pequot Press on America's national parks and historic cities. He is a full-time lighting designer/director for theatre, film and TV, currently serving as resident lighting designer for Eastman Opera Theatre and Mercury Opera in Rochester, NY, as well as for productions at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. He is also the lighting director for the PBS television series "Second Opinion."