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Stan Tekiela's Birding for Beginners: Rocky Mountains: Your Guide to Feeders, Food, and the Most Common Backyard Birds - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Stan Tekiela's Birding for Beginners: Rocky Mountains: Your Guide to Feeders, Food, and the Most Common Backyard Birds

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Find Joy in the Beauty and Wonder of Birds

Birding is among the most popular outdoor activities—especially in the Rocky Mountain states, where hundreds of different bird species can be seen and observed. Now is the perfect time to join the fun and let our feathered friends astonish and inspire you. Award-winning author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela has written best-selling bird identification guides for almost every state. In Stan Tekiela’s Birding for Beginners: Rocky Mountains, he provides the information you need to become a skilled birder in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, northern Nevada, northern Utah, and Wyoming.

The first section of the book presents “how to” information. Learn the basics of bird feeders. Get to know your birdseed. Create a bird-friendly yard—and even make your own bird food with do-it-yourself recipes.

The book’s second section is an identification guide, featuring 55 birds of the Rockies that are most likely to be seen at your backyard feeder or near your home. The species are organized by color, making it simple to identify what you see. If you spot a yellow bird, go to the yellow section to discover what it is. Each bird gets a full-page photograph with notations about key field marks, or identification characteristics. The full-color photos are paired with information ranging from the bird’s nest and eggs to favorite foods, as well as Stan’s fascinating naturalist notes.

Give birding a try, and get started with the guidance of an expert. You’ll be amazed by how much joy birds can bring, and you’ll have a lifetime to enjoy them.

ISBN-13: 9781647551247

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Adventure Publications Incorporated

Publication Date: 09-15-2020

Pages: 176

Product Dimensions: 5.20(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.40(d)

Series: Bird-Watching Basics

Naturalist, wildlife photographer, and writer Stan Tekiela is the author of more than 175 field guides, nature books, children’s books, wildlife audio CDs, puzzles, and playing cards, presenting many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, trees, wildflowers, and cacti in the United States. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural History from the University of Minnesota and as an active professional naturalist for more than 25 years, Stan studies and photographs wildlife throughout the United States and Canada. He has received various national and regional awards for his books and photographs. Also a well-known columnist and radio personality, his syndicated column appears in more than 25 newspapers and his wildlife programs are broadcast on a number of Midwest radio stations.

Read an Excerpt

American Goldfinch
Spinus tristis

Size: 5" (13 cm)

Male: Bright canary-yellow finch with a black forehead and tail. Black wings with white wing bars. White rump. No markings on the chest. Winter male is similar to the female.

Female: dull olive-yellow plumage with brown wings; lacks a black forehead

Juvenile: same as female

Nest: cup; female builds; 1 brood per year

Eggs: 4–6; pale blue without markings

When Seen: winter, spring and fall migration

Food: seeds, insects; comes to seed feeders

Compare: Pine Siskin (pg. 81) and the female House Finch (pg. 83) have streaked breasts.

Stan’s Notes: A common backyard resident. Most often found in open fields, scrubby areas and woodlands. Enjoys Nyjer seed in feeders. Breeds in late summer. Lines its nest with the silky down from wild thistle. Almost always in small flocks. Twitters while it flies. Flight is roller coaster-like. Moves around to find adequate food during winter. Often called Wild Canary due to the male’s canary-colored plumage. Male sings a pleasant, high-pitched song.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Getting Started 6

Bird Feeder Basics 8

Get to Know Your Birdseed 11

Other Foods 15

Storing Birdseed and Feeder Maintenance 17

What's That Bird? Tips for Identifying Birds 19

Bird Basics 21

Tips for a Bird-Friendly Yard 30

Do-it-Yourself Bird Food 31

Birding Citizen Science 32

Frequently Asked Questions 33

How to Use This Guide 35

Sample Pages 37

The Birds

Black 39

Black and White 53

Blue 63

Brown 81

Gray 119

Green 145

Orange 151

Red 159

Yellow 161

Birding on the Internet 168

Checklist/Index by Species 169

Glossary 170

Embrace Nature with more from Stan Tekiela 174

About the Author 176