Book Review: Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds by Stan Tekiela (eBook on Hoopla)

Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds
by Stan Tekiela (Hoopla eBook)

This little 48-page guide is part of the “Backyard Bird Feeding Guide” series focusing on numerous species of birds you might encounter in your yard, many of these have been authored by naturalist and photographer Stan Tekiela. The book is broken up into three sections — the first identifies all the hummingbird species native to the United States (and their normal breeding and migration zones) — only one of which (the Ruby Throated Hummingbird) can normally be found east of the Rocky Mountains. Next, Tekiela discusses the proper formula for hummingbird food and some of the “do and don’t” tips for keeping hummingbirds healthy — quick note: you don’t need to put unnecessary red dyes in the liquid as long as your feeder has lots of red accents to attract their attention. The dies can often be unhealthy for the birds to ingest. And the book also covers popular hummingbird feeder designs and the positives and negatives for each style.

 

Tekiela is know as much for his nature photography as he is for his writing — I really enjoyed the beautiful photos he uses to illustrate this short book!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood by Teresa E. Masear, A Field Guide to the Hummingbirds of North America by Sheri Williamson, The Hummingbirds of North America by Nebraska author Paul Johnsgard, The Hummingbird Book: The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Enjoying Hummingbirds by Donald W. Stokes. I also recommend A Hummingbird in My House: The Story of Squeak and Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests, both by Arnette Heidcamp — although they are no longer in the libraries’ collection, they are available to borrow through InterLibrary Loan.)

 

( Stan Tekiela’s official NatureSmart.com web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests by Arnette Heidcamp in the August 2004 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See Scott C.’s review of Fastest Things on Wings by Teresa Masear in the July 2016 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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Book Review: How to Know the Birds by Ted Floyd

How to Know the Birds

by Ted Floyd (598.072 Flo)

 

As a relative newcomer to birdwatching, I appreciated the unusual format of this guide on how to identify the birds, as each of the 200 entries is a one-page set-piece built around a particular species of bird that, yes, does indeed identify the formal characteristics of the avian in question, but also uses said bird as a departure point to discuss larger issues of bird behavior, the science of ornithology, and the ecological impact humans have on the world that we share with our wild feathered friends.

 

Reading the book brought new levels of context to my birdwatching, I noticed, even though thoroughly understanding how seasonal molt variation and species hybridization affects positive IDs will continue to be out of reach (that’s expert level stuff).

 

How to Know the Birds does not replace standard ID indexes such as the Sibley and Peterson field guides but expands upon them in clear language, touching on whatever main points author and birding expert Ted Floyd thinks are important to mention, thus potentially saving the reader from spending many hours poring over multiple scientific texts. Naturalistic pencil sketches of the species in their environment augment the book’s holistic approach.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior by David Sibley or Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America by Roger Tory Peterson.]

[ publisher’s official How to Know the Birds web page ] | [ Ted Floyd’s official American Birding Podcast ]

 

Recommended by Eric S.
Walt Branch Library

 

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Book Review: Builtd-It-Yourself Birdhouses by Chris Peterson

Build-It-Yourself Birdhouses: 25 DIY Birdhouses and Bird Feeders
by Chris Peterson (598.072 Pet)

This book caught my eye on the New Books display recently at the downtown library. I’ve got several bird feeders and birdbaths scattered throughout my yard, but it’s been years since I tried putting up an actual birdhouse. Build-it-Yourself Birdhouses features over 25 “do it yourself” craft projects — mostly birdhouses, but also a bat house and a small selection of bird feeders as well.

After some introductory chapters in which the author gives you general background about how to handle birdhouses, and explains the tools and construction materials you’ll be working with, the lion’s share of this manual is dedicated to a multitude of birdhouse designs. With each design, which are identified by the type of birds they will attract, you get a photo of the finished product, then a step-by-step description of how to cut the wood and assemble the finished product. Targeted birds range from the tiniest of wrens, to owls, kestrels and wood ducks.

Most of the designs look very attractive, and if I had a workshop with lots of power tools, I’d be tempted to try to create some of these. Unfortunately, although the author says you can try to complete any of these projects with a basic handsaw and elbow grease, they are really designed for somebody that has a table saw, miter saw and circular saw at their disposal. If you’ve got such equipment available to you, this is a great book — I suggest giving it a browse for some marvelous ideas. If you don’t have a workshop available, you may wish to look for simpler birdhouse projects than these.

Attractive book, with lots of good ideas, but may be beyond those without access to specialized tools. None-the-less, I liked the book and do recommend it.

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

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Penguin the Magpie by Cameron Bloom

Penguin the Magpie: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family
by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Grieve [Biography Bloom] 

A few years back, I gave a book talk to our Bethany and Gere BooksTalks groups entitled “Creature Comforts“, all about unique relationships between humans and the animals in our lives. Penguin the Magpie: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family would easily have fit into that talk! When I saw this book on the New Books display at the downtown library, recently, the beautiful B&W photo on the cover, of a child holding a gorgeous magpie bird, immediately leapt out at me.

Author Cameron Bloom is an Australian photojournalist. He and his wife, Sam, are adventurers, preferring treks through unexplored spaces over sticking to “tourist” traps. While on a family vacation with their three young sons to a remote part of Thailand, Sam Bloom was the victim of a freak accident, that left her with a broken spine and fractured skull. Returning to their home in Australia, she was forced to adapt to a new lifestyle, filled with excruciating pain, partial paralysis, and the need for assistance with some of the simplest everyday tasks — torture for someone who had previously lived a very “active” life.

Around this time, one of the Blooms’ sons came across a helpless baby Magpie bird in a store’s parking lot, blown out of its nest and abandoned by its mother. The Bloom family adopted the bird, which the kids named Penguin, due to its black & white coloring, and decided to nurse it, at least until it could be released into the wild. This book features a variety of B&W and color photos of the family with the bird, as it grew up, acclimating to their family life and becoming like one of their kids. Sam, in particular, bonded with the bird, and the process of helping something even more fragile than herself to survive and then thrive contributed to her own rehabilitation. The photos are paired with text that is almost journal-like in format, chronicling Sam’s recovery and the impact it has had on her entire family’s life. There are afterwords, including a “letter” from Sam, herself, which are definitely worth reading, and which add to the emotional impact of the book.

The descriptions of Sam’s struggles are stark, but when contrasted with the beautiful photography of the family and their avian adventures, provide for a bittersweet exploration of how relationships with animals can have a healing quality. This was truly a moving story.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Wesley the Owl, by Stacey O’Brien, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, by Vicki Myron, A Street Cat Named Bob and How He Saved My Life, by James Bowen, or any of the many other books on my Creature Comforts booktalk booklist.]

[ official Penguin the Magpie web site ] | [ official Cameron Bloom Photography web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood by Terry Masear

The Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood
by Theresa “Terry” Masear [598.764 Mas]

When my family first visited Estes Park, CO in the early 1980s, I was astonished at the number of hummingbirds which could be seen both at feeders and in the wilderness of that Rocky Mountain area. Growing up in Lincoln, NE, I couldn’t remember ever having seen a hummingbird, live, before — not surprising since we’re on the westernmost fringes of the flight path of the ruby-throated hummingbird, which is the only hummingbird native to the eastern United States. But, from the Rockies to the west coast, you can see examples of as many as 14 other hummingbird species. I read and enjoyed Arnette Heidcamp’s A Hummingbird in My House and Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests, in which the author recounts her adventures in rescuing a very small number of these flying jewels. I thought her efforts were impressive and inspirational. And then I read The Fastest Things on Wings, Terry Masear’s recent autobiography about her experiences as a hummingbird rescuer/rehabilitator in Hollywood, CA. Masear has rescued literally thousands of these beautiful birds, who have fallen victim to collisions with windows, polluted food, nests blown from trees in storm, or carelessly cut out of trees by tree-trimmers. Masear makes every story shared into an emotional journey, sharing psychological insights into the personalities of the people who either bring her injured or orphaned hummers, or who call her, begging for instructions and assistance.
Masear’s tales are tied together by her relationship to two specific hummingbirds — Gabriel, the first bird she ever rescued, who ultimately becomes the catalyst for her investing more than three months of her life every year to the feeding, housing and then release of hundreds of birds. And Pepper, an injured hummer whom she trains to fly again, and whose resilient nature and willingness to help other birds reveals more about the range of differences between individual birds that any casual birdwatcher would see. And that is the emotional and heart-lifting crux of Masear’s book — although not every bird survives the circumstances that bring them to her care, so many of them have such distinct and unique personalities and behaviors that you find yourself emotionally invested in her stories. Highly recommended — one of my favorite reads this year!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the hummingbird rescue books by Arnette Heidcamp.]

[ publisher’s official Fastest Things on Wings web page ] | [ Terry Masear’s official Hummingbird Rescue web site ]

See more heartwarming books about animal-human relationships in the booklist for Scott’s past booktalk, Creature Comforts

 Recommended by Scott C.

Bennett Martin Public Library

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Look Up! Birdwatching in Your Own Backyard

Look Up! Birdwatching in Your Own Backyard
by Annette LeBlanc Cate [j598.072 Cat]

The colorful graphics of the cover of this youth non-fiction title jumped out at me when a customer was returning it, and I snagged it for a quick read. And that's exactly what is was -- I finished this book in only about an hour. Despite the speed with which I finished it, I really enjoyed this humorous but informative guide to "birding" for kids and teens. The author/artist provides lively illustrations on every single page, and her descriptions of how to go about becoming a bird watcher are funny but inspirational. Her hand-drawn illustrations of dozens, if not hundreds of different bird species are surprisingly well-done. My only complaint about the the art is that Cates regularly chooses to insert "cartoon" versions of the birds -- especially with word balloon captions, as if the feathered critters are speaking to her (the writer) or you (the reader). Despite this awkward element, I can see this book being a great guide for kids just starting off at becoming bird enthusiasts. With the annual Christmas Backyard Bird Count coming up here in December, this might be the perfect time to introduce youngsters in your family to how fascinating bird-watching can be as a hobby, and Look Up! Birdwatching in Your Own Backyard is the perfect way to make that introduction! -- recommended by bird-watcher Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [If younger readers like this light-hearted approach, once you've got them hooked then introduce them to the Audubon Guides or Peterson's Field Guides or Sibley's Guides, with their more realistic reproductions of North America's fine fowl!]

[ publishers' official Look Up! web page ]

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The Big Year

The Big Year
[DVD Big]

The Big Year is a bird watching comedy starring Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black as birding enthusiasts. Nearly every bird watching enthusiast keeps a life list of birds they have watched over the years. The Big Year takes bird watching to an over the top competitive level in which Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black commit to a year of extreme bird watching, with a goal to see as many birds in one year as possible. The comedy begins with the background stories of each bird watcher. Steve Martin as Stu Preissler is a very successful retiring CEO wanting to do a big year for his bucket list. Jack Black as Brad Harris is underemployed, down and out hoping to rebound in life through his true passion for birds. Owen Wilson plays Kenny Bostick, a seemingly undefeatable birding big year champion who will maintain the title at whatever cost. The three men follow bird migration patterns across the country amidst various mishaps, stormy relationships and weather. The Big Year is a refreshing comedy full of heart-warming moments and even a few life lessons. Of course, you will laugh a lot too. The Big Year is a family friendly comedy for all ages and especially humorous to watch if you or someone you know is an avid bird watcher. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Life Aquatic, Lonely Guy, School of Rock, and any Audubon bird watching guide in the libraries.] -- recommended by Glory B. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available: the book this movie was based upon.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official The Big Year web site ]

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Wesley the Owl

Wesley the Owl

by Stacey O'Brien [598.97 Obr]

O'Brien's relating of her 19-year odyssey of raising and living with the barn owl that she named Wesley is an entertaining and educational read. This books is an odd amalgamation of biographical memoir and scientific journal, starting (after a little set up) with Stacey's adoption of a nerve-damaged newborn owl, and ending with her observations over what she could have done better or what more she could have done in Wesley's final days to make the senior citizen owl happier and more comfortable. Along the way, O'Brien identifies "The Way of the Owl" -- a life philosophy based on her observations of how owls live their lives...you both give 100% of yourself, whether physically or emotionally, and you expect the same from those who are close to you. No lying. No subterfuge. Of course, having an owl "claim" you as its mate doesn't really lead to lots of dates with human suitors. All in all, this book reminded me of having read Farley Mowat's An Owl in the Family and Never Cry Wolf back in my teen years. It's a light read, and very informative, but occasionally rather dry reading at times. If you're fascinated with human interactions with "wild" animals, or the psychology of birds, you'll love this one. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Wesley the Barn Owl web site ]

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