Birdscaping Your Garden: A Practical Guide to Backyard Birds and the Plants That Attract Them

by George Martin Adams

Describes the habitat, feeding habits, and behavior of common birds, lists plants that attract birds, and offers advice on planning a bird-friendly landscape

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Birds

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of bird baths and a bird friendly garden. We can all make choices to accommodate the needs of birds which then encourages other wildlife. Selective plants gives birds shelter and camouflage and plenty of food. There's nothing quite like watching the black tailed cockatoos feeding on the hakea trees and the noise accompanied with feeding or the galahs nesting in hollows of banksia that have long been dead but provide much needed and sheltered areas for breeding. Nature at its best.

[Xonrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ideal reference book. Accomplishes exactly what it was designed to do.

You do not have to be a bird or gardening nerd to be able to use this... but if you are heavily into either or both, I imagine the direct access to information without unnecessary academic word filler-fluff will also be extremely handy.

Well illustrated and well structured into separate sections that can be cross referenced (Plants / Birds / Tabled Summary of Plant To Bird Feeding Preferences). It is very straightforward and practical to use.

There is some minor depth for each bird in the Bird's section which is nice. I finally discovered what the Tawny Frogmouth's in my area were called (AND what they actually are)... and if I want to learn more, I can make the effort to look elsewhere to find a more in-depth book or reference source specifically on the breed... because that extra depth is not here, so do not make the mistake of thinking that this book goes to Avian enthusiast levels of detail.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably should label another bookshelves for Birds. Although 2020 is not a favorite year of almost anyone in America, I have to say some good things happened to me. I left condo living--up in the air, not near plants or grass and returned to living in a house with a lovely yard. ALSO, I had the opportunity to home school my daughter. With the enormous help of George Adams' book my granddaughter and I established a butterfly sanctuary and now three bird sanctuary areas in the yard. This book has everything the reader needs to identify the winged visitors and choose the best plants to keep them coming back over and over and over. I love this book!

I will not ever really considerate this book "finished" although I have read every page. This book will be on my resource shelf for years to come.

[Boronia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book for those who wish to attract our beautiful native birds into their gardens. Beginners and more experienced gardeners alike will get their money's worth.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you not love a bird book.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, useful book for anyone who wants their garden to provide food and habitat for wild birds. Among a wealth of useful information, two directories are especially useful:

* Directory of Birds: Detailed information by species, including reasonably-available, garden-worthy native plants that they use for food and nesting material

* Directory of Plants: Essential cultivation requirements for reasonably-available, garden-worthy native plants that are especially useful to birds, including how many bird species the plant serves (in some cases more than 80) and which specific species use it. (No point in planting a shrub that serves birds that never visit your state.)

For example, if you have room for a new shrub and you want to encourage Chickadees to visit, you would look up Chickadees to find shrubs Chickadees love. To help decide which of those to plant, you would look up those shrubs to see which will fit and flourish in your garden, as well as which other birds also use the same shrubs (e.g., Cedar Waxwings, Goldfinches).

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Birdscaping Your Garden: A Practical Guide to Backyard Birds and the Plants That Attract Them by George Adams (Rodale 1994)(598.2973). this is a gardending / natural history / ecology blend for the backyard birdwatcher. My rating: 7/10, finished 2006.

[Cws]

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