Attracting Birds to Southern Gardens

As a birder who has worked tirelessly to create the ultimate backyard habitat, and a former birding editor of a regional gardening magazine, I can vouch for the unbelievable plethora of information contained in this treatise. Not only are landscape designs provided in detail for various types of gardens, from the formal to the wild, they are done with inclusions of complete lists of annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees for nectar, fruit, seed, and insect eaters. these lists are exhaustive, and cover every aspect of the garden. After the chapter on landscaping, nearly seventy of the various bird species that can be attracted to the Southern garden are each described, and most often photographed with complete detail. These descriptions of each species are thorough, along with a list of their habitats, a brief outline of behaviors, and their favorite food plants. Following is an exhaustive chapter which covers all of the most important plants, both native and non-native, which are attractive to birds in the South. Each is cross-referenced to include a list of the birds that feed on them. There is a nice description for each plant which delineates not only its phylogenetic classification, but also its optimum growing conditions, the hardiness zones it does well in, it's fruiting or flowering time, the size it can obtain, whether it is deciduous or evergreen and much more. The fourth chapter deals with accessories: Feeders, water gardens, misters and drippers, houses (including dimensions and correct entrance hole diameters and cavity depth for each cavity nesting species), seed preferences, and more! The final chapter dispels some of the common myths about birds that have prevailed over the years, providing insights that will give even the most novice backyard birder a leg up on creating and maintaining an exciting backyard! Topics such as "what to do with 'abandoned' baby birds found in the yard" and "parents abandoning their offspring" are covered very well. In all, ten of the most common myths are analyzed. Throughout the book, beautiful paintings of our favorite southern birds by several artists grace the pages. This book is definitely a must have for the libraries of all gardeners and birders!

This is a terrific book for southern bird lovers. Besides being packed with valuable information,the photographs of the described plants, trees, etc. are so beautiful and helpful. Because of all those "pretty pictures", kids really like this one too. My kids liked telling me what to plant. We made a game of trying to plant what would attract the most birds (and also look pretty).