Depending upon where you live, now may be the time to start thinking about new birds popping up in your back yard. For homeowners whose bird feeders didn’t survive the harsh-weather season (massive hail destroyed mine last month), plenty of innovative designs await online, from cute models that are completely edible ($18) to this ingenious invention ($65 to $80) with a rolling-grate mechanism that supports the little songbirds you want but rolls over to eject any squirrels trying to get their food. For sleek modern aesthetics, few out there compete with the Architect’s Birdfeeder ($25; pictured), a completely transparent model with multiple selling points: it ships flat, in an inch-high box that saves shipping costs; it assembles with no tools or fasteners, using eight notched pieces that simply slide and lock together; and, well, it looks excellent. Once you’ve selected and mounted your feeder, though, you’ll want to get to know your neighbors. Chronicle Books recently expanded its neat line of bird song guides, in which a built-in audio player matches each bird’s call to an illustration and encyclopedic description, with two titles: The Western and Eastern/Central volumes of The Backyard Birdsong Guide are even better than their predecessors, with a smaller, more backpack-friendly format matching a much lower $25 price tag. If identifying each species becomes so engrossing you become a full-blown birder, you’ll find that some in the hobby are tempted to doubt your rare-bird finds. Put them in their place with a line of small binoculars by Celestron ($67 to $252) that integrates a digital camera into the scope, letting you record each Dark-Eyed Junco and Belted Kingfisher to show Doubting Thomases back home.