Are you someone who has considered creating a bird-friendly yard or garden? As someone who loves nature, I love waking up and birdwatching with coffee. While we live in a suburb, we have a variety of gorgeous birds that call our yard home. I especially love watching our pair of doves that recently moved into one of our trees over the last few months.
Part of what attracts them to our yard is our small stream and our fruiting trees and bushes. I have always felt that nature and humans can live alongside one another in gardening; it just means you sometimes have to give more attractive targets than your garden. With Spring truly around the corner, I have been considering what I can do with my garden and ensuring my birds are cared for when it comes time to fill their nests.
Recently, I had the opportunity to read a book that seemed perfect for my own needs – Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape by Jen McGuinness. Once my complimentary copy arrived, I couldn’t wait to share this book!
Bird-Friendly Gardening: What Is It
Are you looking for the perfect book to help create a bird-friendly yard? If so, we think you will love Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape. Here is what the publisher has to say about this new book:
Book Insert from Amazon.com
Bird-Friendly Gardening is the definitive guide to planting a wildlife-welcoming home landscape filled with a diversity of native plants that feed, shelter, and support birds.
With hundreds of North American bird species facing population decline or at risk of extinction, right now is the perfect time to create a home-based habitat garden that offers birds the resources they need to safely feed, migrate, breed, and thrive.
Thankfully, making your outdoor space a secure and comfortable haven for many different bird species isn’t a Herculean task. It’s a matter of understanding the needs of our avian friends and how native plants, combined with purposeful garden design, can help meet those needs. And that’s exactly the know-how you’ll find here, outlined in a simple-to-follow, actionable format by author Jennifer McGuinness.
Step beyond the seed-filled bird feeder and suet block, and learn how to further provide for birds. Some of the topics covered in the book include:
- How to design a bird-centered habitat garden in spaces large and small
- Advice on providing fresh water year-round
- Understanding the connection between native plants and insects and the birds that rely on them
- How to design and plant a fruit garden, a bird seed garden, a runoff-absorbing rain garden, or even a container garden that nurtures birds
- Meet dozens of trees, shrubs, and other plants that support the insects almost all adult birds need to feed their young
- 18 step-by-step garden design projects and plant lists for creating a diversity of bird-friendly spaces
- Tips for preventing window strikes and cat kills
- Best practices for including bird feeders, nest boxes, and bird baths in your landscape
Whether your “spark bird” was a lightning-fast Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a brilliant Indigo Bunting, or a petite Hammond’s Flycatcher, it’s time to put out the welcome mat for birds in your home garden. YOU can make a significant impact on the lives of thousands of birds, whether they’re just passing through during migration or making a feather-lined summertime home for raising the next generation.
It’s time for gardeners from coast to coast to heed the call and welcome their flighty friends home with Bird-Friendly Gardening.
Our Thoughts
As someone who loves birdwatching and gardening, I have to say I fell in love with this charming gardening book. From the moment I opened the book, I was immediately drawn in by the beautiful charts and pictures, allowing me to quickly identify the birds in my yard and what was already drawing them to call our yard home. Along with the gorgeous pictures and charts, the information is very practical, allowing you to easily pick the perfect plants for your situation and learn about the various birds’ habits in your biome. I also loved the little personal touches of giving attention to “birdwatchers and gardeners in various locations. Overall, I consider Bird-Friendly Gardening a must for any gardener or birdwatcher.
Bird-Friendly Gardening: Where to Purchase
Would you like to pick up this fantastic book for a bird-lover or your gardening library? You can find Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape on Amazon.com in paperback or for your Kindle device for under $26. Who knew encouraging birds to stay in your yard could be so easy?
Ready to see more books like this one? Check out our other gardening book reviews here!
About Susan Bewley
Susan Bewley is a professional writer who has been writing content online & in print format for over 10 years. As well, she is an alumni of the University of Louisville with a Masters Degree in Special Education. When not working as an online business consultant or ghost writing, she can be found writing on Budget Earth, on her own novel, or working with various entities in the pet industry.