Western Birds Backyard Guide

About this book

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. But 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, Western 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" × 8" 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 West, 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.

Western Birds covers Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and western Texas.

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Biography

Bill Thompson III (Whipple, OH) is the editor and co-publisher of Bird Watcher’s Digest. He’s also a keen birder, the author of many books, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the This Birding Life podcast, a regular speaker and performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His “spark bird” was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states, but his favorite place to watch is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist and writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill “the Pied Piper of Birding” and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.