Here are some tips to help you identify and attract birds. To learn more about bird identification get Stokes Field Guide to Birds, or Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds. Stokes Backyard Nature Books will help you attract lots of species to your property and Stokes Nature Guides will teach you all about their behavior.

Tips:

1. Help thirsty birds in winter by using a birdbath heater to keep birdbath water from freezing.
2. Clean out birdhouses in the fall to ready them for spring occupancy. Nuthatches, woodpeckers, and bluebirds may also roost in them in winter.
3. If you wear eyeglasses, turn the rubber eyecups down on your binoculars: it will give you better views.
4. Read your field guide at night, it will prepare you to identify the birds you encounter in the field.
5. When birding in a new area get a local checklist: it will tell you which birds to expect.
6. Have fun finding more birds by visiting different habitats such as lakes, ponds, woodland edges, marshes, fields, and parklands.
7. Keep a spare field guide and an old pair of binoculars in the car.You never know where you are going to find birds!
8. Get children interested in birds by putting up a window birdfeeder. Use Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds to easily identify the birds that come to the feeder.
9. The best binoculars for birdwatching are in the range from 7 x 35 to 8 x 42.
10. Attract hummingbirds with a feeder filled with 1 part white sugar to 4 parts water. Boil for 1 minute, then cool. Clean and refill feeders every 3 days.
11. Keep squirrels off birdfeeders by placing feeders 10 feet from any surface and 4 1/2 feet off the ground. Put a baffle on wire above feeder if hung, or below feeder if pole mounted.
12. When identifying a bird note colors, size, shape, and habitat, then look it up in your field guide.
13. Garden for the birds. Plant berry and seed producing shrubs, trees, and vines and red tubular flowers for hummingbirds.
14. Use the range maps in your field guide to see if a bird occurs in your area.