While the feeding of wild birds might be thought by some to be an activity that requires no instruction, the truth of the matter is very much the opposite. Although far from a difficult activity, backyard bird feeding does require that a few important guidelines be followed if one is successfully to attract birds to the site and provide for their needs in a manner that is both safe and healthy for them. After all, most people who desire to feed wild birds act in large part out of a genuine concern for their well-being; certainly the last thing anyone feeding birds in their backyard would want is for their feathered visitors to be sickened or come to harm because of the manner in which they have positioned or maintained feeders or nesting boxes. Fortunately for all those desiring to ensure that their backyard provides a hospitable environment for North America’s many feeder-visiting bird species, with the publication of Identifying and Feeding Birds, Bill Thompson III may literally be said not only to have written the proverbial book on the subject but to have written what may very well come to be known as the definitive one on it at that.
The latest addition to the Backyard Bird Guides collection of the eminent Peterson Field Guide series, Identifying and Feeding Birds presents all the essential information needed to establish a bird-friendly backyard in a style that is wonderfully conversational without sacrificing any of the basic scientific information in the process. With the erudition of a scholar and the unbridled enthusiasm of a child, Thompson leads the reader step by step through all necessary elements of successful backyard bird feeding, from what birds are seeking in the habitats they frequent to the selection of the right types of food to offer and the best types of feeders in which to offer it.
The first half of the book primarily addresses the why’s and how’s of backyard bird feeding – with roughly equal amounts of emphasis given to each. After all, just knowing what to do is not particularly helpful without knowing why to do it. Therefore Thompson provides plentiful (and often very funny) commentary on each topic he addresses. By keeping the tone of the book friendly and upbeat, the reader quickly comes to feel as though he or she is not so much reading a printed book but having a chat with a long-known friend. The considerable amount of information Thompson presents doesn’t seem nearly as substantial as it actually is due to its being wrapped in jokes, asides, and “just between you and me” type comments. The technique is a very good one indeed as by being communicated in such a way it is easily assimilated by the reader who retains a far greater amount of it than a conventional style of presentation and thus is far more likely to put it into action.
Somewhat ironically, the second half of the book is devoted to the first half of its title – identifying wild birds. As the most popular field guides to the birds of the United States and Canada cover either the entire northern portion of North America or simply divide their respective areas of geographic focus into east and west, the beginner is likely to become quickly overwhelmed when faced with picking out what looks like the bird they just saw at their feeder from among the many possible species such a wide-ranging field guides cover. Therefore Thompson has selected the one hundred twenty-five bird species most commonly seen in backyards across North America, describes each one in terms that while unduly simplified are still easily understandable even to absolute beginners, and accompanies each description with helpful range map and a well-chosen photo of the bird in question.
While there have been previously published books that have addressed many of the same topics as those covered in Identifying and Feeding Birds, few – if any – can truly be said to have made the subject as easily intelligible and as much fun to read about as Thompson has. A bird watcher since childhood, raised in a bird watching family, and now Editor in Chief of the magazine originally established by his parents – Bird Watcher’s Digest – Thompson has bird watching and bird study in his very blood as few other people not only can be said to have but can ever have been said to have. Bird watching is not just something he does, it’s something he lives, and when this fact is combined with his own good natured outlook on life and superb humor as it is in this book, the result is nothing short of enlivening and inspirational. Not only does Identifying and Feeding Birds teach one how to do these things, it makes one want to do them; which is why the book should not only be read by beginners but by all who feed wild birds. The instruction, advice, and gentle, good hearted as well as good humored encouragement it provides will inspire not only beginners to take up the activity but also encourage long-time bird feeding enthusiasts to approach their own bird feeding with a renewed sense of both purpose and enjoyment.
Title: Identifying and Feeding Birds (Peterson Field Guides: Backyard Bird Guides)
Author: Bill Thompson III
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date of Publication: September 2010
ISBN: 9780618904440
In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that the copy of the book read in order to produce this review was provided gratis by the publisher.
