Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Movie Review: The Big Year
"The Big Year" stars Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and the amazing Steve Martin. I found this to be a nice little film but the caste would lead you to believe this is a comedy. IMDB even has it mislabeled as such. I strain to think of a more accurate genera for it though. It's really more of a light hearted drama than full on comedy. Most of the "jokes" you can see in the trailer to give you an idea how light humored they went. It's all situational but believable enough that it's not really that funny. John Cleese is credited as the Historical Montage Narrator, which sounds impressive but really he has one line of dialog the whole movie and he says it in the first 2 minutes of the film. He's unnecessary and they could have casted anyone for that par. I kept hoping he's show up as a zany tour guide or something but he never did. :(
The topic of birding is treated with respect and there are a lot featured in this movie. Which brings me to my biggest complaint with the film. As soon as the credits start rolling the audience is Assaulted! by 755 bird pictures which all flash on the screen at a nauseating pace. This is completely out of character with the pacing and attitude of movie preceding it, and down right distracting from the people names of people who made the movie. I couldn't tell you who directed, who the writer was, weather or not it was based on a true story. I had to look away a couple of times because I was getting flashed by so many birds. I felt like a nun stuck in the middle of a naked marathon.
The bottom line is the general public will hate this movie. For people who are into birds or have an appreciation of taxonomy (not taxidermy! though they might like it too,) you'll get more out of this film. If you plan to see it in theaters, do so A.S.A.P! It's opening weekend and I saw a 9:30 showing in a theater with only 3 other people. That is an awful opening week for any film. I wouldn't be surprised if it was out of theaters by next Friday. Visually speaking the landscapes aren't that impressive so it may be just as well to wait for it to come out on DVD.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Jumping on the Right Gardening Bandwagon
Garden themes are a dime a dozen these days, though not quite as bad as the Diet and Exercise industry. Some of these are gimmicky, while others are classic categories handed down for generations. Really I want gardeners everywhere to just take two steps back and ask where the industry is going.
Compost Tea -
Okay I've never tired this personally but it seems to me hosing down the food with compost isn't as much of a good idea as you might think. What isn't mentioned here is you can occasionally grow Escherichia coli in the tea, also known as E. coli. Also 8 cups of compost sounds like a lot. 1 quart is what other folks online seem to be saying.
Hydroculture - Basically this is the stupid thing to the below. Actually it's wrong to call it stupid because it actually works. It's just you can't grow anything with a grow light alone. You need to have it next to a window to really grow anything out of it. Basically you're growing plants without soil, they survive because there's an air bubbler constantly feeding the roots air and ever two weeks or so you dump in a pill capsule of nutrients. This works but it feels anything but natural.
Aquaculture - This is the biggest waste of money unless you have a garage or green house devoted to it. The idea is the same as Hydroculture but instead of adding nutrients you have fish (usually Tilapia, Koi or Goldfish) living in a tank and the water is filtered through the growing beds. On a large scale I can see this working but as something to be put in your home or apartment it just doesn't work. I tried one product that cost $200+ which grew more mold gnats than anything edible. It must be placed next to a window to get the right amount of light and even then you will need a grow light over it. There isn't enough light coming in through your house windows to grow any edible plant. But if to much light hits the fish tank you'll get green algae which will suck up all the nutrients. In the home these really need to be in the right spot or it's all going to fail.
A few places do this on large scale and are more impressive. The issue though is because they're supplying food to the public and or allowing people to walk around and view their setup, they have to have the water tested daily to make sure E. coli isn't a concern.
Topsy Turvy Tomato and Herb Planter
This sounds as stupid as it looks. Plants want to grow up, not down. They don't hole enough soil either. You're better off just growing a plant inside a bucket. Moving on.
Permaculture - I love the idea here. Basically you garden as a forest. Tall trees are nitrogen fixing with their leaves every year, or otherwise a food crop in some right, vines are allowed to grow up and around them for more food production, shrubs are all food producing, The understory is a mix of shade tolerant plants that all serve some purpose in producing food. As we go farther out into more sun lit areas we find the traditional fruits and vegetables growing. And there's a cycle happening here as the trees drop their branches for firewood, or other material, so that everything is recycled and interconnected in the same system. Basically every plant here should be useful, there's no need for a lawnmower or anything like that other than to add to the compost pile.
What I hate about is when Permaculture nuts recommend stupid plants. YOU ARE NOT going to make your own paper or re-shingle your own house using bamboo. Anyone growing Trilliums as a source of toilet paper is an idiot. Perennial Sunflowers aren't all they're cracked up to be and frankly fall over on everything.
Crop Rotation - Okay this makes sense. It's actually grounded in reality. The idea is certain crops promote or use different nutrients in the soil. So one year you grow tomatoes, and the next year you move those to another spot, etc... Farmers used to do this a lot but used livestock and whatever crop they happen to be growing.
Square Foot Gardening -
With this we're still rotating the crops but they're being grown inter mingled as communities with different root types as opposed to a small mono-culture. This makes sense to me and is very similar to how I have my garden arranged. Along with working, it makes the garden look more like a landscape or flower arrangement almost. There's some design and ascetic qualities to take into account, or even if that's not your thing then it really doesn't matter because it all needs to grow together somehow.
Hummingbird Garden - These don't produce anything other than that is to say they attract hummingbirds. There are a lot of plants at nurseries that say they attract hummingbirds, so many in fact it leads one to believe that there are hummingbirds everywhere just around every corner you don't happen to be looking at right now. Where a lot of gardeners go wrong is actually believing these labels instead of doing research. If you're in the natural range of Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, then you should have several of these planted in your garden! This is one of the plants these birds migrate with the bloom of and it does a hell of a lot better than Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica which gets nothing but carpenter bees.
You'll hear other tips like, "include plants that get lots of insects," and, "always have a few evergreens nearby for them to nest in."
Now, I understand the second one, though I'll point out I've seen them nesting more openly at times. As for the first one... "include plants that get lots of insects,"... Where the hell did this come from? Considering the years and years of gardening mentality that is bugs are bad how the hell did these words come out of a gardener's mouth? What plant at the nursery has ever been labeled that? The only one that comes to mind is New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus, which is really hard to find in most garden centers, and from my understanding has been on serious decline over the past 50 years! I think what they mean by lots of bugs really is that it gets lots of aphids and things like hover flies for them to eat. Caterpillars are also high on the menu.
Butterfly Garden - Here's another theme that a lot of gardeners go wrong with thanks to garden labels. There are a lot of videos online that stress the use of both nectar plants and host plants, and frankly a lot of them talk down to their audience in the process. It's okay to have a butterfly bush, in states where it's not considered a noxious weed, but I would rather have Ironweed, assorted Liatris, assorted Milkweed, some Joe Pye Weeds, Wild Senna, Buttonbush, Asters and Goldenrod all growing in the same 10 by 10 area one butterfly bush can take up.
One problem often talked about with butterfly gardeners is they never seem to have enough insects! Found in the what many call the bible of our age, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded
Doug Tallamy has created a list of host plants, also available online! Woody Plants, Herbaceous Plants. So generally if you have a forest and prairie themed garden full of mostly natives you're doing great. Unfortunately most Lepidoptera are moths. Butterflies are actually a rather small group as a whole and considered to just be day time flying moths. To really get those host plants for each should be researched individually.
Vegetable Garden - Consequently, one problem often talked about with vegetable gardeners is they always have to many insects! I've caught my neighbor throwing Tomato Horn Worms over the fence cause she knows how much I love caterpillars. I'm often parted with how I should react in that situation.
Pollinator Garden - These are big with bee keepers mostly but include elements of butterfly and hummingbird gardens usually. As I've already talked about the other two I'll focus on the honeybee aspect. Going to beekeeping meetings and reading the newsletter often has me cringing at some of the recommendation people have. Often they're promoting down right invasive weeds as nectar sources. I refuse to promote what they are and I'll be posting a list of Native Plants for Honey Bees later in the year.
Xeriscaping - This is when plants are selected for their drought tolerant ability, often with a desert or rock garden theme. I like it but I don't feel that's it's meant for all areas. We have cacti all over, even here in New Jersey, but an entire garden devoted to it doesn't sounds right.
Rain Garden - Quite possibly the best choice of the lot. Water is collected, usually as run off from the gutters, and directed into a little pond or vernal pool, where plants often native and used in other categories above to filter the water. There's no fuss and no muss with this. It's just a water conscious garden.
Conclusions - So regardless of what you're doing and how your growing things, the underlying theme needs to be as follows. It is better to be pretty useful as opposed to just looking pretty. All exceptions must be native to within at least your region of the country. And it's that simple.
Compost Tea -
Okay I've never tired this personally but it seems to me hosing down the food with compost isn't as much of a good idea as you might think. What isn't mentioned here is you can occasionally grow Escherichia coli in the tea, also known as E. coli. Also 8 cups of compost sounds like a lot. 1 quart is what other folks online seem to be saying.
Hydroculture - Basically this is the stupid thing to the below. Actually it's wrong to call it stupid because it actually works. It's just you can't grow anything with a grow light alone. You need to have it next to a window to really grow anything out of it. Basically you're growing plants without soil, they survive because there's an air bubbler constantly feeding the roots air and ever two weeks or so you dump in a pill capsule of nutrients. This works but it feels anything but natural.
Aquaculture - This is the biggest waste of money unless you have a garage or green house devoted to it. The idea is the same as Hydroculture but instead of adding nutrients you have fish (usually Tilapia, Koi or Goldfish) living in a tank and the water is filtered through the growing beds. On a large scale I can see this working but as something to be put in your home or apartment it just doesn't work. I tried one product that cost $200+ which grew more mold gnats than anything edible. It must be placed next to a window to get the right amount of light and even then you will need a grow light over it. There isn't enough light coming in through your house windows to grow any edible plant. But if to much light hits the fish tank you'll get green algae which will suck up all the nutrients. In the home these really need to be in the right spot or it's all going to fail.
A few places do this on large scale and are more impressive. The issue though is because they're supplying food to the public and or allowing people to walk around and view their setup, they have to have the water tested daily to make sure E. coli isn't a concern.
Topsy Turvy Tomato and Herb Planter
This sounds as stupid as it looks. Plants want to grow up, not down. They don't hole enough soil either. You're better off just growing a plant inside a bucket. Moving on.
Permaculture - I love the idea here. Basically you garden as a forest. Tall trees are nitrogen fixing with their leaves every year, or otherwise a food crop in some right, vines are allowed to grow up and around them for more food production, shrubs are all food producing, The understory is a mix of shade tolerant plants that all serve some purpose in producing food. As we go farther out into more sun lit areas we find the traditional fruits and vegetables growing. And there's a cycle happening here as the trees drop their branches for firewood, or other material, so that everything is recycled and interconnected in the same system. Basically every plant here should be useful, there's no need for a lawnmower or anything like that other than to add to the compost pile.
What I hate about is when Permaculture nuts recommend stupid plants. YOU ARE NOT going to make your own paper or re-shingle your own house using bamboo. Anyone growing Trilliums as a source of toilet paper is an idiot. Perennial Sunflowers aren't all they're cracked up to be and frankly fall over on everything.
Crop Rotation - Okay this makes sense. It's actually grounded in reality. The idea is certain crops promote or use different nutrients in the soil. So one year you grow tomatoes, and the next year you move those to another spot, etc... Farmers used to do this a lot but used livestock and whatever crop they happen to be growing.
Square Foot Gardening -
With this we're still rotating the crops but they're being grown inter mingled as communities with different root types as opposed to a small mono-culture. This makes sense to me and is very similar to how I have my garden arranged. Along with working, it makes the garden look more like a landscape or flower arrangement almost. There's some design and ascetic qualities to take into account, or even if that's not your thing then it really doesn't matter because it all needs to grow together somehow.
Hummingbird Garden - These don't produce anything other than that is to say they attract hummingbirds. There are a lot of plants at nurseries that say they attract hummingbirds, so many in fact it leads one to believe that there are hummingbirds everywhere just around every corner you don't happen to be looking at right now. Where a lot of gardeners go wrong is actually believing these labels instead of doing research. If you're in the natural range of Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, then you should have several of these planted in your garden! This is one of the plants these birds migrate with the bloom of and it does a hell of a lot better than Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica which gets nothing but carpenter bees.
You'll hear other tips like, "include plants that get lots of insects," and, "always have a few evergreens nearby for them to nest in."
Now, I understand the second one, though I'll point out I've seen them nesting more openly at times. As for the first one... "include plants that get lots of insects,"... Where the hell did this come from? Considering the years and years of gardening mentality that is bugs are bad how the hell did these words come out of a gardener's mouth? What plant at the nursery has ever been labeled that? The only one that comes to mind is New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus, which is really hard to find in most garden centers, and from my understanding has been on serious decline over the past 50 years! I think what they mean by lots of bugs really is that it gets lots of aphids and things like hover flies for them to eat. Caterpillars are also high on the menu.
Butterfly Garden - Here's another theme that a lot of gardeners go wrong with thanks to garden labels. There are a lot of videos online that stress the use of both nectar plants and host plants, and frankly a lot of them talk down to their audience in the process. It's okay to have a butterfly bush, in states where it's not considered a noxious weed, but I would rather have Ironweed, assorted Liatris, assorted Milkweed, some Joe Pye Weeds, Wild Senna, Buttonbush, Asters and Goldenrod all growing in the same 10 by 10 area one butterfly bush can take up.
One problem often talked about with butterfly gardeners is they never seem to have enough insects! Found in the what many call the bible of our age, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded
Doug Tallamy has created a list of host plants, also available online! Woody Plants, Herbaceous Plants. So generally if you have a forest and prairie themed garden full of mostly natives you're doing great. Unfortunately most Lepidoptera are moths. Butterflies are actually a rather small group as a whole and considered to just be day time flying moths. To really get those host plants for each should be researched individually. Vegetable Garden - Consequently, one problem often talked about with vegetable gardeners is they always have to many insects! I've caught my neighbor throwing Tomato Horn Worms over the fence cause she knows how much I love caterpillars. I'm often parted with how I should react in that situation.
Pollinator Garden - These are big with bee keepers mostly but include elements of butterfly and hummingbird gardens usually. As I've already talked about the other two I'll focus on the honeybee aspect. Going to beekeeping meetings and reading the newsletter often has me cringing at some of the recommendation people have. Often they're promoting down right invasive weeds as nectar sources. I refuse to promote what they are and I'll be posting a list of Native Plants for Honey Bees later in the year.
Xeriscaping - This is when plants are selected for their drought tolerant ability, often with a desert or rock garden theme. I like it but I don't feel that's it's meant for all areas. We have cacti all over, even here in New Jersey, but an entire garden devoted to it doesn't sounds right.
Rain Garden - Quite possibly the best choice of the lot. Water is collected, usually as run off from the gutters, and directed into a little pond or vernal pool, where plants often native and used in other categories above to filter the water. There's no fuss and no muss with this. It's just a water conscious garden.
Conclusions - So regardless of what you're doing and how your growing things, the underlying theme needs to be as follows. It is better to be pretty useful as opposed to just looking pretty. All exceptions must be native to within at least your region of the country. And it's that simple.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Aquaponic System partial Review
First off the 10 Gallon Aquarium is not included which I'm fine with. Stones I'm also fine with buying by myself. These things help avoid insane shipping costs and remove the possibility of it all showing up broken.
This sits on a sheet of wood with wheels on it... and is fairly useless besides. All aquariums are not exact in measurements, they're off by a few millimeters; just as the wooden part your 10 gallon tank is suppose to fit flush around is. This can be fixed with some simple sanding but nowhere in the instructions does it say this. The other issue is the wheels. They're so tiny and have to support so much weight I struggle to think when wheels on this flimsy thing would come in handy at all. Weather it's the deck, the rug, or over your hardwood floors, you're not moving this thing without some disaster. It's a useless piece of wood as far as I'm concerned, and you'll be far better putting the fish tank on a proper stand.
Moving our way up we find the wooden frame or stand that sits on top the aquarium. This too doesn't fit flush with the lid and can be fixed with some sanding. It fits just enough though to not be flimsy so that's good I guess. And it does support the full weight of the flower bed above it.
Next we come to the flower bed itself which is probably the only reason to buy this thing. It's just, I wish they sold this by itself as it's the only useful thing in the box that required some skill to build. And comes pre-assembled of thank god. Finally I found some value to this product! Two PVC pipes come along with this, one with groves sawed in it to drain water out the top, and another that gets inserted down below ... which isn't really needed but it helps I guess.
At last we come to the pump itself. Take a moment to view it on amazon and enlarge the picture just a sec. See that huge aqua green sleek looking pump that actually looks nice. Well that's not what they send you, no no, they send you a much smaller, but does the job though the hose doesn't fit pump that you could have bought at any pet store. I suppose I'm happy that it is smaller, and it does do it's job when the hose is laid down on it. It's just another thing on my "Why Did I Pay This Much?" list.
So I set it up just as you see in the picture. As per the instructions you need to get the water level right and play around with the timer some. The timer is another cheap thing but at least they included one. I personally upgraded that adds a few outlets. In toying around with this thing I discovered a few things.
1) When running expect to hear the constant sound of running water. It annoyed me to no end! For 15 minutes of every hour of the day you have to keep this thing running on the timer. So much for having it in the bedroom or anyplace that requires thinking.
2) There is no reason for there to be that much space between the aquarium and the flower bed above. Had this been lowered down it would have fixed problem number 1. I guess it's needed to get the plants at eye level, but you'll be bending over to look at and feed the fish, which are far more interesting anyhow. You'll be better off taking a VERY strong shelf next to some windows or grow lights and drilling a hole for the drainage pipe to connect with the fish tank below.
Let's do some math before continuing. At one point the instructions say add water to test the system out, but they don't say how much water is needed. So I filled the lower fish tank full of water and started filling the flower bed. The lowest drain always leaks some which is good and bad. This brings us to the next thing I learned.
3) Should the pump ever fail, all of the water in the upper flower bed can easily flood the fish tank below. Even when you only have the fish tank below filled with water, it's important to keep track of how much water is in your system. The pump only sends water to the flower bed for 15 minutes of every hour. The rest of the time it's either draining back down or doing nothing. So the only time you can really judge if the fish tank needs water when it's doing nothing at all.
That's where I'm at thus far. Please note I'm not following any directions with growing plants in such a system. I don't think any came with this thing but how hard can it be? So don't blame this product should I come back and moan about how awful my plants are doing. I've actually changed some things with this product to make it better. Like I said I cut a hole in a real shelf to get the fish tank and flower bed closer and I'm happy to say this got rid of the running water sound completely.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Review: Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season
"Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season"
by Sally Roth.
The information in this book is arranged by changing seasons. This works well for the avid bird watcher as it follows the migration of most birds quite well. Topics such as building bird houses, what and how to feed, and when it's time to cut back those plants are found in seasons when it's most appropriate. This format doesn't always work well though.
Early on in the book she warns about Bear Attacks. It's good to get this topic out there early but readers might be lead to assume Spring is the only time to worry as they're not mentioned anywhere else. Other topics like opossums (possums?) and cats attacking birds at the feeder are placed in chapter on summer. Maybe these are the months when such attacks are most common but maybe it would have been better to take these out of the four seasons format and simply list them in their own Good to Know chapter.
The book opens with the author telling us about herself. She talks about her son and neighbors and stories almost to the point where she becomes a character in her own book. Not exactly a bad thing, one gets the vibe of a sweet grandmotherly women who always has her binoculars poised out the window. The rest of the book has shorter stories that feel optional to read and thank god for that. These personal stores have are written in a wordy fashion. It's not unreadable but could have been summarized better. This is only annoying at the very start of the book though and things flow much more nicely for the rest of the book.
When not telling us about herself she offers up superb advice. Having bird houses up and ready by the time Daffodils are blooming is one such fact and she explains why. I built a bird house myself earlier this year over the summer, and I wondered why nothing moved in it. Apparently all the cavity nesting birds that would have moved in were already well established in other locations. One has to put the bird houses up early to get the first few birds that migrate up. What's more she goes into detail about which birds are highly social (bird house hotel) all the way to highly territorial (males fight to the death).
It's here that we "sort of learn" how to build a bird house. Exact measurement would have been nice but she explains aren't necessary. Instead we're told, small, medium, and large but we're not given anything to reference what these sizes really mean. For some birds she offers general measurements for walls and height so young birds don't fall out too soon. I guess this is okay but I would have liked something better.
For each season there is a chapter devoted to plants which beneficial plants. Most of the plants featured are native and I'm happy to see she specifies "native to your region." Some non-natives are mentioned too but as far as I can tell she mentions nothing invasive. Other chapters are devoted to highlighting 3 types of birds that really summaries the season. She features maybe 5 to 7 plants for each type of bird. Some like ground cover or need fruit and nectar. Generally if your plants offer a lot of caterpillars, seeds, fruit, cover, and nesting your yard is good for the birds. Plant care is kept to a minimum but she mentions a great tip that a lot of gardeners don't do. DON'T CLEAN UP YOUR GARDEN! All those dead plant stems still have seeds on them and they poke up above the snow during the winter. In some cases there are even overwintering caterpillars that have curled up a leaf right on the dead plant. It annoys me that people do this. You don't need to clean up your garden until March of next year and it's great that she points this out.
She talks a good deal on each bird, it's habits, how it approaches the feeder, what foods they like best, and where they're most likely to nest. Identifying some of them to species level is better left for another book but some types are easy to pick out. She even mentions the benefits to having an array of birds around. For instance some birds eat their half their weight in insects a day, and some even specialize in eating aphids. All good to know.
But the absolute best thing about this book has to be the stunning pictures. Almost every page in this book has a brilliant picture or two of some of the most colorful birds in the country. I thought Bluebirds and Goldfinches were pretty; I've never seen a yellow Warbler, the orange of an Oriole or the warm browns of a Cedar Waxwing before. The photographers for this book even make the common brown Sparrows look amazing. They make me wonder why Hummingbirds are so prized by gardeners. This book is almost worth buying for the pictures alone. In the back there's a full page crediting probably more than 50 photographers.
Speaking as someone who's only starting out with birds I can say it's a good book to have. I wasn't able to bring myself to finish it though, but the thing is I plan to follow what I've read. This is one of those books where it's only interesting if you have the plants and are seeing those birds. Maybe when I get more Fall interest I'll finish reading those chapters and give Winter a try.
Early on in the book she warns about Bear Attacks. It's good to get this topic out there early but readers might be lead to assume Spring is the only time to worry as they're not mentioned anywhere else. Other topics like opossums (possums?) and cats attacking birds at the feeder are placed in chapter on summer. Maybe these are the months when such attacks are most common but maybe it would have been better to take these out of the four seasons format and simply list them in their own Good to Know chapter.
The book opens with the author telling us about herself. She talks about her son and neighbors and stories almost to the point where she becomes a character in her own book. Not exactly a bad thing, one gets the vibe of a sweet grandmotherly women who always has her binoculars poised out the window. The rest of the book has shorter stories that feel optional to read and thank god for that. These personal stores have are written in a wordy fashion. It's not unreadable but could have been summarized better. This is only annoying at the very start of the book though and things flow much more nicely for the rest of the book.
When not telling us about herself she offers up superb advice. Having bird houses up and ready by the time Daffodils are blooming is one such fact and she explains why. I built a bird house myself earlier this year over the summer, and I wondered why nothing moved in it. Apparently all the cavity nesting birds that would have moved in were already well established in other locations. One has to put the bird houses up early to get the first few birds that migrate up. What's more she goes into detail about which birds are highly social (bird house hotel) all the way to highly territorial (males fight to the death).
It's here that we "sort of learn" how to build a bird house. Exact measurement would have been nice but she explains aren't necessary. Instead we're told, small, medium, and large but we're not given anything to reference what these sizes really mean. For some birds she offers general measurements for walls and height so young birds don't fall out too soon. I guess this is okay but I would have liked something better.
For each season there is a chapter devoted to plants which beneficial plants. Most of the plants featured are native and I'm happy to see she specifies "native to your region." Some non-natives are mentioned too but as far as I can tell she mentions nothing invasive. Other chapters are devoted to highlighting 3 types of birds that really summaries the season. She features maybe 5 to 7 plants for each type of bird. Some like ground cover or need fruit and nectar. Generally if your plants offer a lot of caterpillars, seeds, fruit, cover, and nesting your yard is good for the birds. Plant care is kept to a minimum but she mentions a great tip that a lot of gardeners don't do. DON'T CLEAN UP YOUR GARDEN! All those dead plant stems still have seeds on them and they poke up above the snow during the winter. In some cases there are even overwintering caterpillars that have curled up a leaf right on the dead plant. It annoys me that people do this. You don't need to clean up your garden until March of next year and it's great that she points this out.
She talks a good deal on each bird, it's habits, how it approaches the feeder, what foods they like best, and where they're most likely to nest. Identifying some of them to species level is better left for another book but some types are easy to pick out. She even mentions the benefits to having an array of birds around. For instance some birds eat their half their weight in insects a day, and some even specialize in eating aphids. All good to know.
But the absolute best thing about this book has to be the stunning pictures. Almost every page in this book has a brilliant picture or two of some of the most colorful birds in the country. I thought Bluebirds and Goldfinches were pretty; I've never seen a yellow Warbler, the orange of an Oriole or the warm browns of a Cedar Waxwing before. The photographers for this book even make the common brown Sparrows look amazing. They make me wonder why Hummingbirds are so prized by gardeners. This book is almost worth buying for the pictures alone. In the back there's a full page crediting probably more than 50 photographers.
Speaking as someone who's only starting out with birds I can say it's a good book to have. I wasn't able to bring myself to finish it though, but the thing is I plan to follow what I've read. This is one of those books where it's only interesting if you have the plants and are seeing those birds. Maybe when I get more Fall interest I'll finish reading those chapters and give Winter a try.
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