I found this title over Thanksgiving while looking for a read on prairie grasses. Written by an entomology it explores the role of plants in transferring energy from sunlight to herbivore to yardbird. The author provides an interesting perspective of how exotic plant species interfere with this flow of energy. Thought provoking is the variation found among native plant families to host insect populations (measured by Lepidoptera diversity) – this seems applicable to bird migration and the ability of a stop-over site to “catch” migrants.
A yardbirding highlight for me this year was transforming our front yard from a bird-free barren "grass" patch (with a single lilac sprig) to a diverse configuration of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers that is already, after just one season, attracting birds. This book provides a novel approach of which plants to combine to complete your vagrant trap -- a must read for the Complete Yard-birder, after of course you finish building your igloo.
Sweet before/after shot Kaplan. Apparently you now know what CP's been talking about for all of these years; it's not what you've got, but how you use it...
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