Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Best Ever Backyard Birding Tips Reviewed

Want more birds in your backyard?

backyard jay
Backyard Blue-jay image courtesy of pixabay.com
When I first retired one of my first goals was to attract more birds to my backyard. I purchased the book Best-Ever Backyard Birding Tips to help me in that process. I would like to review it for you today.

The book is written by Deborah L. Martin who specializes in gardening and nature topics. I particularly like her easy to understand writing style. She filled 339 pages with tips and illustrations of tips to attract more birds. An additional 17 pages are dedicated to resource pages, an index and a hardiness map. 

One of the tips that I found interesting pertained to water for birds. Now, I knew that birds like a birdbath to drink from and wash their little bodies in but I didn't know about mud puddles. Have you ever noticed after a significant rainfall that leaves puddles and mud in the yard that there are more birds? I always thought they were foraging for worms in the softer ground. Well, that might be but they are also eating the mud. Birds need certain minerals in their diet which they find in the mud. 

Have you ever been tempted to try to knock a wasp nest out of a tree? I am not that brave because I don't want to get stung! I found in the book that it is better to leave it alone and not just because of the stinging factor. If you look closely around that wasp nest, you might just see a bird's nest too. Those stinging insects are actually help to defend against predators that might try to get into a nest with baby birds in it. Now, isn't that cool? 

Did you know that you can place pieces of fruit in your backyard to attract birds? Many varieties of our winged friends love fruit. Try it with a piece of melon or a ripe peach and sit back and observe which birds swoop in for a treat. Butterflies will flutter in, too.

There are 11 chapters covering all sorts of tips on backyard birding. The last chapter even covers some of those lesser appreciated guests that will come to your feeders and yards. Some bird species are more pests than they are welcomed guests and this chapter gives tips about how to deal with them. It also talks about squirrels that although some may think are cute will rob more than their fair share of the food you want the birds to enjoy. Raccoons and other wildlife might also visit, the author gives suggestions on how to let them know that they aren't really on your guest list.

I have learned a lot from the book and still refer to it once in a while. If you love birding in your backyard, I think that you will find it helpful, too.


Book On Birding In Your Backyard



Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


Thursday, September 17, 2015

Travel Tips Book Reviews

Love to travel? You'll love these two little travel tips books: Lonely Planet's Best Ever Travel Tips and The Essential Little Cruise book.
Love to travel? Whether you are looking for a small gift for someone who loves to travel or you are someone who loves to travel yourself, if you are seeking out the best travel tips ever, you will love these two small and inexpensive books that are packed with BIG travel tips.

On this page, you will find a quick review of two tiny but helpful books of travel tips and a few additional resources for still more travel tips.

Lonely Planet's Best Ever Travel Tips


Firstly, you might want to seek out a copy of Lonely Planet's Best Ever Travel Tips.

This is one of the tiniest travel tip books that I have ever seen but it is jam packed with tons of travel secrets and advice from veteran travellers.

9 Reasons Why Lonely Planet's Best Ever Travel Tips Book Is A Great Resource:

This book will give you simple pointers for:

  • Packing and preparing for your trip.
  • Money issues.
  • Health concerns.
  • Safety and security issues.
  • Air and ground transportation hints.
  • Hotel tips.
  • Technology ideas.
  • Ways to make the most of your trip.
  • Ways to travel in an eco-friendly manner.
From the book, Hint Number 2: Don't take anything to the beach that you would not want to lose.
The Aquapac Waterproof Cell Phone Case
At the beach, carry valuables in a protective case
like this one from Aquapac.
It is an obvious point and one that is easily fixed though many never get around to taking the proper precautions.  I have struggled with this before. Going to the beach, setting up a spot as a home base and then wanting to go for a swim but who is going to watch the stuff? Common sense says that anything left alone on the beach might disappear. The recommendation from Lonely Planet's travel tip book is not to take anything to the beach that you would not want to lose AND to carry an Aquapac for your keys, money, identification, camera and/or cellphone. A protective, waterproof case will keep a few important things safe and dry. If you are carrying a cellphone or camera, there's even an Aquapac for that specific purpose.

Lonely Planet's Best Ever Travel Tips may not be for the most seasoned of travellers. If you think you have travelled a lot and learned a lot about travelling, you might want to pass. However, if you are not an experienced traveller or if you want to make sure you have learned as many secrets as you can, this little book is a tiny gem. For a couple of dollars you can take advantage of the wealth of experience the experts at Lonely Planet have gathered together to help you make the best of your trip.

Read more about Lonely Planet's Best-Ever Travel Tips on Amazon.

The Essential Little Cruise Book


The Essential Little Cruise Book by Jim West features advice for planning and enjoying your perfect cruise vacation.
Here is another little travel tips book that is packed with expert advice. I love this book, The Essential Little Cruise Book: Expert Advice for Planning and Enjoying a Perfect Vacation at Sea by Jim West. It provides plenty of hints that will be relevant to any cruise vacation. It also provides a wonderful list of top 10 recommended shore excursions and do-not-miss sights for cruise tours in each of the different geographical areas that people cruise in. It won't replace a big cruise guide but it is extremely practical for providing hints about onboard life and at under $5 or just over $5 for your Kindle, it is quite affordable. It offers insight into how to handle different situations on a cruise ship that you do not usually find in the other cruise books.

Read more about The Essential Little Cruise Book on Amazon.

Do you have any travel books you would endorse to the rest of us?

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda



More Travel Tips & Reading:

The Best Practical Cruise Gift Ideas 
A page full of interesting AND practical cruise gift ideas.

How To Choose A Cruise in Europe
Once you have decided to go on a cruise, you would think the sailing would be smooth. However, in today's cruising world there are so many choices to be made...that the choice can be overwhelming. This page is designed to help you choose a cruise...






Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


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