The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds: Creating Natural Habitats for Properties Large and Small.

This guide offers advice for improving natural habitats within a home's yard or a larger area, such as a farm or wildlife refuge, in order to attract an assortment of birds. Kress, vice president for bird conservation at the National Audubon Society, emphasizes that with nearly 80 percent of the United States' wildlife habitat sitting on private lands, the actions of landowners will determine the fate of most North American bird species. Kress describes the factors, such as food, cover, water, and nesting sites, that limit the number of animals that can survive in a given habitat. He offers tips for minimizing human influence on these limiting factors. He offers tips on forest management (including how to maintain nesting trees and encourage forest expansion), grassland management (when and when not to mow), and shrubland management (such as arranging plantings). The book includes tables of plants that readers could cultivate. Kress ends the book with suggestions for building bird feeders and structures for nesting and roosting. Cornell, 2006, 466 p., b & w illus., paperback, $24.95.