Description
Book SynopsisBird-watching is one of life's simple joys. Seeing a colorful friend flit about your backyard brings feelings of excitement, gladness and contentment. Stan Tekiela understands the thrill of bird-watching. The award-winning author and naturalist has been studying and photographing backyard birds for more than 25 years. Here, he guides you through the wonderful lives of the most popular, most beloved species--like the American Goldfinch, the Northern Cardinal and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. His incomparable photography captures the birds in action and depicts behaviors that are sure to warm and perhaps even surprise you, while the book's headings and small blocks of text make for easy yet informative browsing. Every important aspect of the birds' lives, from first flight and feeding to migration and mating, is portrayed in this gorgeous book. Your coffee table won't be complete without it.
Table of ContentsThe Comfort of Backyard Birds Moving into the New World The Origins of Bird Feeding Families of Birds The Backyard Birds Declining Populations Saving Our Backyard Birds Is It a Male or Female? Flashy Attractions Juvenile Plumages Keen Eyesight Knee and Ankle--or Foot? Toe Arrangements Hitching Down the Tree Specialized Bills Seasonal Feeding Getting to the Nutmeat Bird Feeding Popularity Effects of Bird Feeding Fruit Diet Appearance Insect Diet Natural Music in Backyards Repertoires Two-Song Multitaskers Who's Singing That Song? Songsters with an Accent Pounding Out Drumbeats Singing in Season Adjusting Songs to the Habitat Variety of Nests The No-Fuss Home Cavity Nesting Falcons in the Nest Box Swifts in Chimneys Nesters on Bug Patrol Parasitic Nesting Birds Killdeer Nesting Ruse Blackbird Appreciation Drawing Painted Buntings Indigo Bunting Visits Birds and Plants Birds and Bugs One-Season Pair Bonds Short-Term Partners Long-Term Mates Hummingbird Independence Early and Late Nesting Semi-Colonial Nesters The Amazing Egg Egg Laying, One at a Time The Marvel of Incubation Whose Turn to Incubate? Caution--Babies About to Hatch! Help from the Egg Tooth Helpless or Ready to Go Brooding Warmth Fledglings in the Nest Chicks Out and About The Need to Fly South Hummingbird Migration Weathering the Winter Designed to Survive Instincts Help Them Through Shivering for Warmth Our Backyard Friends About the Author
