Best Hummingbird book? (1 Viewer)

[KerriBlooms]

Hi guys,
I've spotted a few hummingbirds in my garden already but I want to know how I can attract more. Everything from food, feeder, flowers...etc etc. I've managed to find a lot of free information on the web, but I was also wondering if anyone has ever gotten a great book on the topic. These are the books I'm considering. The first is the Stokes Hummingbird Book (1998) and the second is a much more recent ebook: http://neatwebstuff.com/hb/?hop=1starbooks

Anyone recommend one over the other? Maybe another book altogethe?? Again, I'm a beginner so I'd like something that is easy to follow and understand.

Hope to hear from you guys soon!

Kerri

 

[stilllearning]

Stokes is good. You might want to check out A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America (Peterson Field Guides) Also Hummingbirds of North America: The Photographic Guide is another good one. I prefer photographs over drawings.

 

[Lisa W]

Must admit I'm partial to: A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America (Peterson Field Guides), by Sheri Williamson, but she doesn't really go into feeders, etc. More of the birds in the wild.

 

[Dave B Smith]

Hello Kerri,
I see this is your first post so on behalf of the staff, welcome to the Birdforum. I have Sheri's Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America (Peterson series) and really like it but as mentioned above it deals more with Identification and distribution. I also have a good DVD from Peregrine on Hummingbirds, but again, this focuses on Identification.

Best of luck in attracting lots of Hummers to your garden and do keep us updated on how you're doing with this.

 

[seaspirit]

Hi,

Not sure about the e-book. A bit like buying a cat in the bag......... even for the great "special" price (sounds like one of those shopping channel commercials). Would be nice to be able to see and read a couple of pages.....

Really, get one of the field guides mentioned above to help you ID your visitors, but depending on location you may have to deal anyway only with 1 or 2 species, and to get a bit on general hummingbird biology (I have the Peterson's series hummingbird guide, does both very well).

Otherwise pretty much all about the do and don't are on very comprehensive websites.
Nectar is just plain sugar and water 1:4, and feeder hygiene is mandatory (just make sure you rinse very well to get rid of the detergent and desinfectant).

There are a number of books on hummingbird friendly gardening -what plants to plant, water, perches......-, consider one of those. Checking your local Public Library may come up with a surprise.

However, since hummers are fiercely territorial there are limits how many a garden can host. Key is to provide enough food and place feeders in a way that an individual can claim only one as property (because he or she can only keep eye on one at a time).

A personal favorite is The World of the Hummingbird by Robert Burton. A great read with lots of eye-candy photographs, unfortunately out of print. Highly recommended if you can get your hands on a copy.

UH