Feather your nest with bird-watching books

People looking for cheap, wholesome winter entertainment need look no further than the shrubbery, because this downtime in the garden is tops for bird-watching. Here are some books to help in identifying, inviting and simply enjoying birds in the garden.

BRUSHED BY A FEATHER: A YEAR OF BIRDWATCHING IN THE WEST

By Frances Wood. Fulcrum, 256 pages, $16.95

Wood takes the reader through an entire year in this book, which is filled with fresh observations, musings and bird lists. Many water and shorebirds are included, as Wood lives on Whidbey Island and takes full advantage of the bird-watching opportunities both inland and along the water. Her monthly bird reports are supplemented by her own ink drawings and essays such as "Amazing Migration Feats" and "Mucking Around the Marsh." Each monthly installment includes a list of birds seen that month; you can use Wood's lists as a template for your own.

RARE ENCOUNTERS WITH ORDINARY BIRDS

By Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Sasquatch Books, 191 pages, $12.95.

There's nothing ordinary about this collection of essays. Although the birds encountered are those we see every day -- wrens, cormorants, crows -- Haupt's observations bring into sharp focus the fascinating and intricate lives of these partners of ours in city and suburban nature. Haupt begins the book at the beginning of the year when, she says, birders like to make the first bird they see their "Bird of the Year": "This game is an inspiration to place yourself in natural circumstances that will yield a heavenly bird, blessing your year, your perspective, your imagination, your spirit." So naturally, the first bird Haupt sees that year is a European starling, an alien species that Haupt says birders refer to as a "sky-rat." "Rare Encounters" is just the right size to be a thoughtful stocking stuffer for the bird lover in your life, but be sure to buy it early, as you won't be able to resist reading it yourself first.

BIRDS OF SEATTLE AND PUGET SOUND

By Chris C. Fisher. Lone Pine, 160 pages, $9.95.

This small book is a handy reference for many of the birds I see when I look out the kitchen window. The color illustrations are true to life and, in addition to a box with quick identification features, each entry includes a bar graph of the year showing the bird's abundance and a conversational description of the bird's habit. Still in print, and for good reason: This is the book to use at home and on winter walks through the park and along the shore.

PROJECTS FOR THE BIRDER'S GARDEN

Edited by Fern Marshall Bradley and the editors of Yankee Magazine. Rodale, 320 pages, $17.95.

The projects in this handy book range from easy-to-assemble bagel bird feeders to more complex construction plans for birdhouses. Use this book at home or for school activities.

THE SIBLEY FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA

By David Allen Sibley. Knopf, 472 pages, $19.95.

Take the big, heavy, beautifully illustrated North American bird book that took the country by storm in 2000 and pare it down to those 700 or so species that live out West, and you have a handy reference guide that won't weigh you down. Sibley's illustrations of birds in flight give an additional dimension to our observations.

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS: WEST

By Miklos D.F. Udvardy, John Farrand Jr., National Audubon Society. Knopf, 832 pages, $19.95.

The classic photo guide shows us the birds "in situ."

A FIELD GUIDE TO WESTERN BIRDS

By Roger Tory Peterson. Houghton Mifflin, 432 pages, $27.

Lifelike illustrations make this guide one of the most-used on our shelf.

Marty Wingate is a Seattle-based Master Gardener with a master's degree in urban horticulture. Her articles appear on Thursdays. Her new book is "Big Ideas for Northwest Small Gardens" (Sasquatch, 211 pages, $21.95). She can be contacted by mail in care of the P-I, 101 Elliott Ave. W., Seattle, WA 98119, or via e-mail at: martywin@earthlink.net.

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