The Bird Watching Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Birds in Your Backyard and Beyond

by Laura Erickson

Learn the how’s and why’s of bird behavior, from flirtatious mating practices and gorgeous birdsong to flying south for the winter. In this lively reference book, Laura Erickson addresses hundreds of real-life questions sent in to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the world’s foremost authority on birds. With expert advice on bird watching techniques and equipment, feeding and housing birds, protecting habitats, and much more, Erickson guides you through the intricacies of the avian world with a contagious passion for our feathered friends.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Reference, Animals, Gardening

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Connie D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the size and feel of this book in my hands, like a small guidebook with a flexible but tough cover. It also has charming illustrations and a question and answer format in themed sections, all appealing too. Good quirky questions as well as essential info.

Great for reading 5 minutes at a time or longer. There's lots of information here and isn't really set up to read straight through. I started months ago, returned it to the library and took it up again recently...and could have repeated that for many more months or years, taking little bites at a time.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book would appeal to a pretty broad range of people, from avid birders to those who just kinda like birds but don't know much about them. The author has decades of experience fielding questions about birds and has picked a really interesting set of them, organized them nicely, and answered them with a very accessible style and level of detail. I consider myself in the avid category but still learned a lot.

[Edith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book is jam-packed with information about birds, their behavior and their physiology, and how to watch them. It would be an ideal present for a beginning birdwatcher. Besides well organized information delivered in a comfortably casual way, the book has an appendix with glossary, resources, and an index.

Although the book is intended for adults, I could imagine an adolescent interested in birds would find this book very accessible. Laura Erickson, a science writer at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, dedicated the book to her children and to people everywhere, "whose minds bubble over with questions." That seems a very apt description. A nice reference book for the beginning birder.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This handy little pocket size book is a real gem. It is full of every type of question and answer a bird watcher could imagine. Even though I have read many bird books, I still learned a number of new things from this book. There is a chapter on bird feeding, bird watching, solving bird problems, protecting bird populations, bird behavior, bird vocalizations, etc. etc. There are questions that I have thought of in the past, but wasn't able to find an answer to. The answers were here, in this book! I love this book!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for learning about birds!

You can't go wrong reading this FAQ about bird facts, myths, and behaviors.
The author does a good job compiling questions and writing in a conversational tone.

If you're a beginner or intermediate enthusiast there will be new things to learn in this book.

The categories were not very intuitive overall.

[Mike Kane · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overall informational book, with lots of insight into the world of birds. That said...a lot of information is repeated multiple times throughout the book, at which point I found myself skimming.

[Jaysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book if you are just getting into birdwatching. We used it as a homeschool resource for a science fair project and now we are a family of birders!

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like big birbs and I cannot lie

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy, practical tips on how to enjoy watching birds.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, interesting book with FAQs about birds and their behavior. I learned some new things and got more familiar with things I'd heard before.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource.

[Carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Physically, this book is small but it has quite a bit of interesting knowledge. It is more of a Q&A book with little facts interspersed.

Interesting notes:
All owls have three toes that face forward and one that faces back. You only see two front toes when an owl is perched on a branch because one of the front toes is opposable and rotates to the back when perching.

Birds produce sounds with their syrinx. By controlling the muscles of the syrinx, some birds can make one set of sounds with the left branch and a different set of sounds with the right, producing harmony with their own voice.

To located the nearest wildlife rehabilitator to you: www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm

www.ebird.org enables birders to contribute their sightings to a permanent database online which then becomes accessible to scientists and other birders through maps, graphs and tables.

Since hummingbirds are aggressive feeders, you will attract and feed more hummingbirds by setting out four tiny one-bird feeders spread out so a bird at one doesn't easily see the others.

You can provide a good source of calcium for birds by crushing eggshells from hard-boiled eggs and setting them out for the birds to eat. If the shells have not been cooked, bake them in the oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes.

According to results of the Seed Preference Test conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, black oil sunflower seeds attract the widest variety of species. Millet and milo are "filler" in less expensive bird seed. Millet is eaten by sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons and doves. Milo is only preferred by jays, pigeons and doves. Nyjer seed attracts goldfinches, redpolls and siskins.

You can learn more about attracting birds to city yards and balconies online at www.celebrateurbanbirds.org

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent "jewels" of information for backyard birders or nature enthusiasts! My only "complaint" is that in the Kindle format, the little notes and tidbits which are probably offset in boxes or with the illustrations in the print version, appear to just be extra paragraphs in the Kindle version. This makes the writing seem disconnected (sometimes jumping topics) when you reach one of those sections. Otherwise, it was highly readable and informative.

[Jim Bonner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Birder Should Have This Book

This book provides information you don't find in most field guides. However, more photos would have really improved the book. Well, any photos really, as there are just some sketches within. But the text is fantastic! This book has greatly increased my knowledge of Birds & Birding in just on reading. And with all the notes I've taken, one more read should really solidify the information.

[Margery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy watching the variety of birds outside my window. Recently, a friend and I went to the National Wildlife Refuge,an hour north of Sacramento. I am becoming my grandmother--wearing purple and loving birds.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the Q&A format with its short, direct answers.

It was also easy to trust the accuracy of information as it came from Cornell and that credibility makes it more likely that I'll check out some of the additional resources / further suggested reading.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, but didn't answer many of my questions.

[Amar Pai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh, apparently the 'wedding rice expands in birds' stomachs and kills them' thing is a myth

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geared to backyard birders but gleaning some useful information, especially about hummingbirds.

[Kathy Hizer fielden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read! Lots of facts put in easy, fun language. Dispels myths such as a mama bird will reject it's young if handled by a human.