Backyard Ecology™ Helping you create a thriving backyard ecosystem.
Backyard Ecology™
Helping you create a thriving backyard ecosystem.

Recommendations

Are you interested in our recommendations for books, equipment, and other resources that can help you continue learning about the nature around you, native plants, pollinators, and wildlife? If so, you aren’t alone. This is a topic that we are frequently asked about.

We created this page of recommendations because we wanted to make it easy for you to find those resources. (Just click on the image and it’ll take you to where you can purchase the item.) We’ll be continually adding to our recommendations list, so check back often. Also, if you have a favorite resource that isn’t on this list, please tell us about it so we can check it out too.

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Clouded sulphur butterfly drinking nectar from ironweed flowers.

Quick links

Apps

Books

Equipment

App Recommendations

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🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

FloraQuest Northern Tier
By: Alan S. Weakley (🎙️) and the Southeastern Flora Team
FloraQuest Carolinas & Georgia
By: Alan S. Weakley (🎙️) and the Southeastern Flora Team
Merlin
By: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Book Recommendations

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Free trials

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Quick links

Use the quick links below to jump to a specific category of books.

Animals

Children’s Books

Lichens

Miscellaneous

Native Plants

Creating Pollinator and Wildlife Habitat

Animals

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide
By: Heather N. Holm (🎙️)
The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees
By: Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril
Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History
By: David Wagner
Common Bees of Eastern North America
By: Olivia Messinger Carril and Joseph S. Wilson
Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America
By: Jeffrey H Skevington (🎙️), Michelle M. Locke (🎙️), Andrew D. Young, Kevin Moran, William J Crins, and Stephen A. Marshall
Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs: Identification and Natural History of the Fireflies of the Eastern and Central United States and Canada
By: Lynn Frierson Faust (🎙️)
Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America
By: Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman
Land Snails of West Virginia
By: Daniel C. Dourson (🎙️)
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America, 7th Edition
By: Roger Tory Peterson
Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America
By: David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie
Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern and Central North America
By: Robert Powell, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition
By: Jonathan Alderfer
A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America: Second Edition
By: Jeffrey Glassberg
A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX
By: Gene Kritsky (🎙️)
The Warbler Guide
By: Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle
Wasps: Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants
By: Heather N. Holm (🎙️)

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Lichens

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Field Guide to the Lichens of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
By: Erin Tripp and James Lendemer (🎙️)
Urban Lichens: A Field Guide for Northeastern North America
By: Jessica L. Allen and James C. Lendemer (🎙️)

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Native Plants

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

100 Plants to Feed the Monarch: Create a Healthy Habitat to Sustain North America’s Most Beloved Butterfly
By: The Xerces Society
Flora of the Southeastern U.S.
Alan S. Weakley (🎙️) and the Southeastern Flora Team
Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses
By: James H. Miller and Karl V. Miller
Gardening With the Native Plants of Tennessee: The Spirit of Place
By: Margie Hunter
The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants
By: Neil Diboll (🎙️) and Hilary Cox (🎙️)
The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
By: Douglas W. Tallamy
Trees of Eastern North America
By: Gil Nelson, Christopher J. Earle, and Richard Spellenberg
Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky
By: Thomas G. Barnes and S. Wilson Francis
Wildflowers of Mammoth Cave National Park
By: Randy Seymour
Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast
By: Laura Cotterman, Damon Waitt, and Alan Weakley (🎙️)

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Creating Pollinator and Wildlife Habitat

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Attract Pollinators and Wildlife to Your Yard: 15 Free and Easy Ways
By: Shannon Trimboli
Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide, Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies
By: The Xerces Society
Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
By: Douglas W. Tallamy
Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change
By: Larry Weaner (🎙️) and Thomas Christopher
The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden
By: Rick Darke and Douglas W. Tallamy
Native Plants for the Small Yard: Easy, Beautiful Home Gardens that Support Local Ecology
By: Kate Brandes (🎙️) and Lehigh Gap Nature Center
Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard
By: Douglas W. Tallamy
Nature at Your Door, Connecting with the Wild and Green in the Urban and Suburban Landscape
By: Sarah Gagné (🎙️)
Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
By: Heather N. Holm (🎙️)
Wetland Drainage, Restoration, and Repair
By: Thomas R. Biebighauser (🎙️)
Wetland Restoration and Construction A Technical Guide
By: Thomas R. Biebighauser (🎙️)

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Children’s Books

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Bugs Don’t Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids
By: Heather L. Montgomery (🎙️)
Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill
By: Heather L. Montgomery (🎙️)
What’s in Your Pocket?: Collecting Nature’s Treasures
By: Heather L. Montgomery (🎙️)
Who Gives a Poop?: Surprising Science from One End to the Other
By: Heather L. Montgomery (🎙️)

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Miscellaneous

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

🎙️ indicates that the author was a guest on the Backyard Ecology™ podcast

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
By Robin Wall Kimmerer
Forgotten Grasslands of the South: Natural History and Conservation
By: Reed F. Noss
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
By: Richard Louv
Plants Honey Bees Use in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys
By: Shannon Trimboli
A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
By: Aldo Leopold

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Equipment Recommendations

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Get a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime

Observation

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Rite In The Rain Journal
Vortex Optics Diamondback HD 8×42 Binoculars
Metal Ant Motes
Brushes for Cleaning Hummingbird Feeders

Gardening / Habitat Work

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

FELCO F-2 Pruning shears
FELCO 910 Leather Holster
FELCO F 310 Pruning Shears
FELCO 912 Leather Holster
Radius Pro Stainless Steel Transplanting Shovel

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

Click on an image to learn more and purchase the item.

Note: Some of the links below are Amazon links and those are affiliate links. Amazon pays us a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Nitrile Gloves
Permethrin Treated Tick Gaiters
Tecnu Poison Ivy Cleanser
Tecnu Poison Ivy Cleanser – Wipes
Permethrin Clothing Spray
Picaridin Tick and Insect Repellent
OFF! Deep Woods Insect Repellent

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