The Backyard Bird-Lover's Guide,'' just published by Storey Publishing this month. While the book describes most of the backyard species you're apt to see, it is much more than a field guide. The lavishly illustrated volume explains all sorts of bird behavior and tells how to attract birds, feed them and house them. The first 122 pages are devoted feeding, housing and life-cycle information while the next 150 pages offer details of more than 135 species you are apt to see in the backyard.
Appendices offer details of habitat requirements and eggs.
All this is illustrated with Jeffrey Domm's wonderful paintings - much better than photographs because they can emphasize characteristics, positions or actions that need highlighting. In my reverie I heard a bird call not unlike a cardinal's and stared hard at the nearby bush where I could see movement within. Then luckily it turned so that I could see the black hood on the back of the head. Teal spiel Diana Gray of north Wilton had quite a show the other day on her pond on the east branch of the Silvermine River. They were practically walking on water, they lifted their bodies so high, first one, then the other, like a relay.