Birds & Blooms, The Local Blue Jays Thank You

Is it odd to have a flock of blue jays waiting on you when you get home from work? I'm probably the only twenty-something woman in this college town who has five or six squawking wild birds greeting her arrival each evening.

I receive Birds & Blooms as a gift subscription, but I would certainly pay the bill myself. When I started getting the magazine, I wasn't really too interested in birdwatching, but now I'm trying out techniques and different foods mentioned in the magazine. The local blue jays are especially glad that I tried feeding them raw peanuts in the shell, something I read about in Birds & Blooms.

The articles in Birds & Blooms are short, easy to read and accompanied by beautiful illustrations, including stunning photos submitted by readers. Don't expect to find lengthy, technical pieces. Birds & Blooms is much more casual than Horticulture or even Organic Gardening.

Unlike other gardening magazines, however, Birds & Blooms does not contain a plethora of advertisements. It may look like a slim magazine, but the absence of those annoying ads leaves lots of room for interesting pictures and helpful hints. They even include gardening and birdwatching tips in the margins -- just turn the magazine sideways.