Your Backyard Wildlife Year: How to Attract Birds, Butterflies and Other Animals Every Month of the Year Book

Enjoy the antics of a chipmunk as it samples peanuts from your feeder. Relax on your deck as butterflies dart among the colorful wildflowers you've planted at the back of the yard. Watch bluebirds bringing up their young in your newly built nestbox. These are just some of the pleasures in store when you garden with wildlife in mind. Your Backyard Wildlife Year is the ideal introduction to creating an attractive, abundant garden for wildlife. Whether you're new to wildlife gardening or already committed to encouraging wildlife in your garden, this book is a treasure-trove of great projects and practical ideas. Marcus Schneck is an enthusiastic backyard wildlife gardener with a wealth of experience to share. Set up as a practical month-by-month workbook, Your Backyard Wildlife Year features exciting projects for each month of the year, provides region-by-region action checklists for each month, and profiles the wildlife visitors you'll find in your backyard. Your Backyard Wildlife Year starts the new year with projects for turning your old Christmas tree into a wildlife shelter, building a windowbox feeder for birds, and planning the year ahead. Each new month brings a range of fun, easy projects, each one clearly explained with step-by-step instructions, easy-to-follow photos, and helpful illustrations. You'll learn how to choose plants that are beautiful and attractive to wildlife, how to build nestboxes, butterfly hibernation boxes, and toad sanctuaries, and how to create features such as miniponds, natural pathways, and dry streambeds. You'll also find effective ways to strike a balance between the needs of the creatures you invite into your backyard and your desire to keep them out of your vegetable garden and away from young plants. In addition, Marcus Schneck gives sound advice on everything from photographing the wildlife in your yard to identifying the birds' nests in your trees. In addition to the month-by-month guides, an illustrated directory presents