Designed for beginning birders and nature enthusiasts alike, this easy-to-use guide presents sixty-one of the most common species of birds in the greater Atlanta area. The guide features large color photographs throughout for immediate identification and is conveniently organized by bird size, starting with very small birds, such as the ruby-throated hummingbird, and progressing to larger species, such as the great blue heron. Information for each bird species includes common and scientific names, distinguishing marks and characteristics, and descriptions of bird calls, typical habitats, and nesting and feeding behaviors. Accounts also show variations in plumage according to sex, age, and season. The perfect companion for every backyard birder, Common Birds of Greater Atlanta also serves as an excellent introduction to birding, bird identification, and conservation.
Julie Zickefoose lives for the moment when a wild, free living bird that she has raised or rehabilitated comes back to visit her; their eyes meet and they share a spark of understanding. Her reward for the grueling work of rescuing birds—such as feeding baby hummingbirds every twenty minutes all day long—is her empathy with them and the satisfaction of knowing the world is a birdier and more beautiful place. The Bluebird Effect is about the change that's set in motion by one single act, such as saving an injured bluebird—or a hummingbird, swift, or phoebe. Each of the twenty five chapters covers a different species, and many depict an individual bird, each with its own personality, habits, and quirks. And each chapter is illustrated with Zickefoose's stunning watercolor paintings and drawings. Not just individual tales about the trials and triumphs of raising birds, The Bluebird Effect mixes humor, natural history, and memoir to give readers an intimate story of a life lived among wild birds.
"From a purely practical point of view the most important of the relations of native birds to man are the economic. The esthetic value of birds is great -- greater, indeed, than that of any other group of animals; and that this is a real and especially a treasured value is not to be denied. But it is in their relation to insect and other enemies of crops that birds are most directly associated with the welfare of mankind, and their value in this particular should be made as widely known as possible. This bulletin is one of a series designed to assist in doing this. Not all birds are beneficial and all facts tending to show in which class each species belongs will be set forth. the useful kinds far outnumber the injurious, however, and so great is their value as insect destroyers in the United States that to them may be given the credit of being on e of the greatest controlling factors in limiting the development of insect pests and in preventing many disastrous outbreaks. In the following pages are discussed the habitat, food habits, a nd relation to agriculture of more than 50 species of birds common to farming sections."--Page 2
This book was written by Ellenborough Lascelles Beal, an American pioneer of economic ornithology. In the following pages are discussed the food habits of more than 50 birds belonging to 12 families. Many are eastern forms which are represented in the West by slightly different species or subspecies, but unless the food habits differ they are not separately described. In some cases specific percentages of food are given, but for the most part the statements are made without direct reference to the data on which they are based.