Web Smarts

www.x10com.com

WHAT: A website that links to other bird-watching and bird-feeding sites on the Internet.

BEST POINTS: A Pennsylvania bird lover named Henry Madere started this no-frills site after bookmarking places on the Web where he found advice and information about birds. If you want nuts and bolts on how to set up a feeder (February is National Wild Birdfeeding Month), how often to clean it (weekly), what seed to buy (black-oil sunflower is best, because of its high oil content; grocery-store mixtures are usually a waste because they contain too much "filler seed"), and how to care for orphaned birds (don't move one unless you're positive the parents are not coming back), this is the place to start.

One of the best links is to the National Bird-Feeding Society, which offers numerous tips and ideas for family projects.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The choice of links is rather arbitrary, which you'd expect from a website that started randomly from one person's bookmarks. It seems that the upper Midwest - Minnesota and Nebraska - is disproportionately represented in the advice available, and if you live in the South or West, you may find less to interest you. Obvious connections, such a direct link to the Audubon Society, are missing.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Publishing Society