Audubon Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape

Bird-Friendly Gardening is the definitive guide to planting a wildlife-welcoming home landscape filled with a diversity of native plants that feed, shelter, and support birds.

With hundreds of North American bird species facing population decline or at risk of extinction, right now is the perfect time to create a home-based habitat garden that offers birds the resources they need to safely feed, migrate, breed, and thrive.

Thankfully, making your outdoor space a secure and comfortable haven for many different bird species isn’t a Herculean task. It’s a matter of understanding the needs of our avian friends and how native plants, combined with purposeful garden design, can help meet those needs. And that’s exactly the know-how you’ll find here, outlined in a simple-to-follow, actionable format by author Jennifer McGuinness.

Step beyond the seed-filled bird feeder and suet block, and learn how to further provide for birds. Some of the topics covered in the book include:

• How to design a bird-centered habitat garden in spaces large and small
• Advice on providing fresh water year-round
• Understanding the connection between native plants and insects and the birds that rely on them
• How to design and plant a fruit garden, a bird seed garden, a runoff-absorbing rain garden, or even a container garden that nurtures birds
• Meet dozens of trees, shrubs, and other plants that support the insects almost all adult birds need to feed their young
• 18 step-by-step garden design projects and plant lists for creating a diversity of bird-friendly spaces
• Tips for preventing window strikes and cat kills
• Best practices for including bird feeders, nest boxes, and bird baths in your landscape

Whether your ＂spark bird＂ was a lightning-fast Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a brilliant Indigo Bunting, or a petite Hammond’s Flycatcher, it’s time to put out the welcome mat for birds in your home garden. YOU can make a significant impact on the lives of thousands of birds, whether they’re just passing through during migration or making a feather-lined summertime home for raising the next generation.

It’s time for gardeners from coast to coast to heed the call and welcome their flighty friends home with Bird-Friendly Gardening.

Jen McGuinness is a writer, editor, and photographer who began regularly writing as Frau Zinnie in 2011 on FrauZinnie.com. The website features Jen’s writing, photography, and personal gardening experiences in her Connecticut, US, garden, along with interviews with garden experts. She is a proponent of organic gardening methods and wildlife-friendly gardens.

Jen has worked in local journalism, nonprofit communications, a small business, and now in corporate communications. She explored other interests along the way, earning two master’s degrees. Jen is an award-winning local journalist, earning recognition from the New England Press Association, the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Awards for Publication Excellence.