Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Sharon Sorenson

Aug 2018 · Rowman & Littlefield

About this ebook

Welcoming birds to your yard isn’t about choosing the right feeders and bird food. If you want to attract the widest range of birds to your home, you need to plant a diversity of native plants. Why go green? Native plants live longer; they are drought resistant, take less water and fertilizer, they cost less, are less work and easier to maintain. And a big plus—they are good for the environment.
In 2007, Douglas Tallamy published the groundbreaking book, Bringing Nature Home, on going native to protect wildlife. Since then Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the National Wildlife Federation, and National Audubon have all endorsed and encouraged gardening with native plants.
Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard is the first book to cover planting native to specifically attract birds. The book recommends plants for all types of backyards, no matter how large or small—from large plots to container gardens. Sorenson gives state-specific recommendations for 31 Eastern U.S. states for native plants that support birds during the four seasons. The book covers the full gamut of native plants—76 species of trees, shrubs, bushes, vines, grasses, perennials, and annuals—and gives details on why specific plants are bird friendly and how to choose plants that work successfully in attractive home landscapes. Includes 66 bird species, all shown in dramatic color photos.
Birders, gardeners, and landscapers—all who love birds and beautiful gardens—will find this book a must.

Ratings and reviews

Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard by author Sharon Sorenson is a wonderful help in understanding how to set up our yards and wildlife gardens to promote the attraction of beautiful birds. This is a very important factor for anyone who enjoys the thrill of seeing new species of birds in their own front or backyards. Using native plants for our specific area is such a sensible plan for not only the birds but for pollinators also. The information I found in Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard includes extensive information for the Southeast regions of the US. Plant choices for seasonal conditions are explained for help in choosing the placement of native plants for the best results. The colorful images of the birds and plants are wonderful! Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

About the author

Sharon Sorenson writes the biweekly "For the Birds" column for the Evansville (IN) Sunday Courier and regularly presents birding workshops for the Nature Conservancy and Indiana Audubon Society. She is the author of Birds in the Yard Month by Month (Stackpole, 2013) as well as a number of student reference books, including How to Write Research Papers, How to Write Short Stories, and Webster's New World Student Writing Handbook. She lives in Mount Vernon, Indiana.