Midwestern Birds: Backyard Guide - Watching - Feeding - Landscaping - Nurturing - Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, ... Dakota (Bird Watcher's Digest Backyard Guide)
Bill Thompson
Language: English
Pages: 160
ISBN: 159186559X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
From the editor of the nation's premier birding magazine, a no-nonsense, no-fluff quick guide to the birds you see every day. Of all the classic American pastimes, perhaps none is as widely accessible as watching birds. Our unusually vast, diverse environmental landscape supports fascinating species and variations exclusive to each region of the country. While birders often spend their efforts in search of the rarest creatures, some of the most beautiful and intriguing birds are the ones that frequent our backyards (or nearby) daily. For that reason, where other larger volumes focus on bird types that the casual observer is never likely to encounter, Midwestern Birds concisely celebrates those species living under our very noses. Written by Bill Thompson III, the editor and co-publisher of Bird Watcher's Digest, this portable 5"x8" book contains the same variety of entertaining and informative entries that make Bird Watcher's Digest the nation's most popular birding magazine. Inside, you'll find profiles of the 55 most common birds in the Midwest, complete with large color photos, gender-specific physical descriptions, nesting and feeding information, bird call particulars, and interesting stories about each species. Thompson also introduces the reader to the basics of bird watching: essential gear, bird-friendly food and plantings, housing tips, and observational techniques. This guide covers Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Look for our other backyard bird guides covering the Mid-Atlantic, South, Northeast, and West regions of the United States.
especially amazing sound thanks to the way their vocal organs are designed—a single wood thrush can actually sing two different notes at the same time, creating beautiful harmony. Once you hear the song, patiently scan the upper and inner branches of the forest for this rusty brown master singer. Wood thrushes have suffered severe declines in population during the past thirty years due to loss of habitat, forest fragmentation, and nest parasitism from the brown-headed cowbird, which will actually
rich feeding grounds for indigo buntings, which flock to coneflower, Mexican hat, cosmos, coreopsis, and especially foxtail grasses. nestIng Indigo buntings have a rather loose definition of monogamy, with extra-pair copulations being quite frequent. Males visit females in neighboring territories, and females visit males. Males vary in their tendency to feed young; some are attentive parents, whereas others leave most of the chick-rearing to their mates. The nest is bulky but compact, cupshaped,
feeder types. Red-winged blackbirds also relish the seeds from certain vines, At A Gl Ance such as trumpet vines. nestIng Nesting starts early for the redwinged blackbird, with males singing from an exposed perch in their territories as early as February in the South, later in the North. Females choose a nest site in a male’s territory and build cup-shaped grass nests that are suspended from vertical supporting vegetation. Mud forms the foundation of the nest and soft grasses are the inner
smaller male house finch, the red covers only the head, face, and breast. The house finch’s back and wings are brown and streaky. Large-headed with a stout bill, the purple finch is hard to miss, often announcing its arrival with a loud pik! call. Its song, which is sung beginning in late winter, is a loud, rich warble delivered from a treetop perch. Females are brown-backed with dark brown and white face patterns and dark cheek patches. Their white breasts are boldly streaked with brown. wHere
and sound of moving water are highly attractive to birds. You can add motion to any birdbath or water feature with a mister, dripper, or a recirculating pump. Misters and drippers attach to your garden hose and release a small amount of water that disturbs the surface of the bath; these ripples are eye-catchingly attractive to birds. Recirculating pumps, which require electricity, recycle the water from the main bath through a pump and filter and then back to the bath. If you live in an area