We are ten retired American birders — schoolteachers and rangers, nurses and engineers — with a combined 380+ years of backyard birding across 22 states. Every guide on this site starts in one of our own yards: real feeders, real seed budgets, real field journals going back to the 1980s. Field-tested or it doesn’t publish.
10 Editors380+ Combined Years Afield22 Home StatesEvery Guide Field-Tested
Meet Our Editorial Team: The Birders Behind BackyardBird.org
Every guide is written and reviewed by the Avian Biology Editorial Team — ten retired American birders with a combined 380+ years of backyard birding across 22 states, from Minnesota’s boreal feeders to Arizona’s desert stations. Nothing here is theory: every feeder, seed mix and identification tip we publish has been tested in at least one of our own backyards, and every guide is re-reviewed once a year.
Meet the Team
We are schoolteachers and rangers, nurses and engineers, librarians and letter carriers — ordinary Americans who spent our working years feeding birds before breakfast and our retirements writing down what four decades of feeders actually taught us. Between us we host feeders in 22 states, keep yard journals going back to the 1980s, and participate in citizen-science counts every season.
HB
Harold “Hal” Brennan
Founding Editor · Woodpeckers & Suet · Ohio
A retired industrial-arts teacher from Cincinnati, Hal has run the same suet station for 42 winters and hand-builds every feeder design he reviews. His upside-down suet tests are the reason our starling advice works.
42 years afieldFeeder designChristmas Bird Count, 30 seasons
A retired school librarian in Burlington, Margaret keeps 38 years of dated yard journals — the backbone of our migration timing tables. She leads her county’s spring warbler walks and has logged 4,100 eBird checklists.
38 years afieldMigration timingeBird reviewer, county level
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Dale Kowalski
Winter Feeding Editor · Finches · Michigan
A retired auto-plant electrician from the Upper Peninsula, Dale knows irruption years the way sailors know weather. His siskin and redpoll notes from 35 winters shaped our nyjer freshness rules and finch feeder tests.
A retired ER nurse in Macon, Ruth Ann gardens for hummingbirds with the same discipline she brought to nursing: feeders scrubbed on schedule, nectar mixed to the gram. Her salvia beds host Ruby-throats from April to October.
31 years afieldNectar hygieneNative plant gardening
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Frank Delgado
Desert Southwest Editor · Arizona
A retired Arizona state park ranger from Tucson, Frank spent 40 years interpreting desert birds for the public. Gambel’s Quail, Gila Woodpeckers and Costa’s Hummingbirds are his backyard regulars — and his Beatty’s-style feeder setups inform our Southwest guides.
40 years afieldDesert speciesFormer park interpreter
A retired 4-H coordinator in Knoxville, Betty Lou monitors a 40-box bluebird trail she has kept for 36 years — over 2,900 fledglings and counting. Our nest-box plans, hole sizes and predator-guard specs come straight from her notebooks.
36 years afieldNest box trails2,900+ bluebirds fledged
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Jim Sorensen
Boreal Editor · Grosbeaks & Redpolls · Minnesota
A retired letter carrier from Duluth, Jim walked his route with binoculars for 39 years. Evening and Pine Grosbeaks mob his platform feeders in irruption winters, and his seed-crop forecasts help us time our northern feeding guides.
39 years afieldBoreal irruptionsProject FeederWatch, 30 seasons
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Dorothy Nakamura
Pacific Northwest Editor · Washington
A retired high-school biology teacher in Olympia, Dorothy taught two generations of students to tell a chestnut-backed from a black-capped. Her rain-country feeder hygiene rules keep our Pacific Northwest advice honest about mold.
34 years afieldWet-climate feedingSchoolyard habitat mentor
A retired mechanical engineer in Lancaster, Walt treats squirrel-proofing as an engineering problem: 44 years of baffles, poles and prototypes, all documented. If a feeder claims to be squirrel-proof, Walt has personally disproven it or endorsed it.
44 years afieldBaffle physicsBuilds every feeder he reviews
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Edna Faye Boudreaux
Gulf Coast Editor · Louisiana
A retired schoolteacher in Lafayette, Edna Faye watches the Gulf migration from her porch each spring — Painted Buntings, Indigo waves, and hummingbirds by the dozen. Her Gulf-coast arrival dates anchor our spring setup calendar.
33 years afieldGulf migration50 years of yard lists
Our Editorial Standards
A backyard bird site lives or dies on trust. These are the rules every article on BackyardBird.org follows, without exception:
1
Field-Tested or It Doesn’t Publish
Every feeder, seed, and technique we recommend has run for at least one full season in an editor’s own yard. If we haven’t watched birds use it, we don’t tell you to buy it.
2
Verified Against Primary References
Plumage, range and behavior claims are checked against the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds of the World and All About Birds references, USGS data, and current eBird occurrence maps before publication.
3
Honest Photography
Our images come from Wikimedia Commons and USFWS libraries with full license attribution, or from our own yards. Every caption names its source — no stock-photo mystery birds.
4
No Pay-to-Play
We accept no sponsored placements, no free feeders for favorable reviews, and no affiliate-driven rankings. When we name a feeder style that works, it’s because it survived our squirrels.
5
Dated, and Re-Dated
Every guide carries an “Updated” line, and the full library is re-reviewed each October. Bird populations, seed markets and feeder designs change; our pages change with them.
How Every Guide Is Made
Our review process is slower than the internet’s, and we’re proud of that:
Assignment by Expertise
A hummingbird guide is drafted by Ruth Ann (31 years of nectar stations), not by whoever is free. Regional topics go to the editor who actually lives them.
Field Notes First
Drafts start from the editor’s dated yard journals — real arrival dates, real seed consumption rates, real failures included.
Reference Check
A second editor verifies every identification, measurement and range claim against Cornell Lab and USGS references.
Cross-Climate Review
A third editor from a different region reads for climate blind spots — advice that works in Duluth can fail in Tucson, and we say so when it does.
Annual Re-Review
Each October the whole library is re-checked against the latest occurrence data and our newest season of notes. Corrections are made openly, with the update date changed.
A promise from all ten of us: if you try our advice and it fails in your yard, the fault is ours to fix — write to us through the contact page, tell us your state and your setup, and a real birder will answer with a real suggestion.
Regional Coverage: Who Watches What
America’s backyard birds change every few hundred miles. Our team is spread deliberately so that a reader in Maine and a reader in New Mexico both get advice from someone who feeds birds in their climate:
Northeast & New EnglandMargaret (VT)
Mid-Atlantic & AppalachiaWalt (PA)
Upper Midwest & Boreal BeltJim (MN), Dale (MI)
Ohio Valley & MidwestHal (OH)
Southeast & PiedmontRuth Ann (GA), Betty Lou (TN)
Gulf CoastEdna Faye (LA)
Desert SouthwestFrank (AZ)
Pacific NorthwestDorothy (WA)
Between home bases, family visits and fifty combined years of chasing birds across state lines, the team’s field notes cover 49 of the 50 states — Hawaii is next year’s road trip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who writes the articles on BackyardBird.org?+
The Avian Biology Editorial Team — ten retired American birders with 380+ combined years of backyard feeding experience across 22 states. Articles are signed by the team because every guide passes through at least three editors: the regional specialist who drafts it, a reference checker, and a cross-climate reviewer.
Are your recommendations sponsored?+
No. We accept no sponsored placements and no free products in exchange for reviews. Feeder and seed recommendations come from full seasons of use in our own yards — several editors still hand-build the feeders they test.
How do you verify bird identification information?+
Plumage, range and behavior claims are checked against the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s references, USGS data and current eBird occurrence maps before publication, and every guide is re-reviewed annually each October.
Can I ask the team a question about my yard?+
Yes — write through the contact page with your state, your setup and what you’re seeing (or not seeing). A real editor answers, usually the one whose climate matches yours. Spring migration season slows us down, but every message gets a reply.
Why don’t articles list individual author names?+
Because no article here has a single author. The team byline reflects how the work is actually made: one editor drafts from decades of notes, two more verify and challenge it, and the whole team re-reviews it annually. This page introduces the people behind the byline.
