If you’re like me, you’ve waited to the last minute to even think of buying Christmas gifts because you just haven’t found the time.
Between birding, work (more birding), and planning future birding (CBC), you’d think I would be sick of birds, but never! Let Nemesis Bird help you with your last minute holiday gifts for the birders and outdoor enthusiasts in your life.
If you don’t find what you are looking for here, check out suggestions from previous years at: 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017
Nature and Birding Books
One thing birders can never have enough of….BOOKS! A few good field guides came out this year, so I suggest these as a starting point (make sure the recipient doesn’t already own these). GULL is the word this year.
Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification:
Gulls of the World: A Photographic Guide: This was Drew’s pick for a book
Birds of Chile: A Photographic Guide: This was another
Birds of Prey of the West and Birds of Prey of the East: A Field Guide: For
Kaufman Field Guides: While these are not new, the Kaufman Field Guide
Bird Magazine Subscriptions are the gifts that keep on giving! You’ll want to figure out if your birder already receives these or not. Like birding books, birding magazines are a great way to stay up-to-date on birding news as the snow flies in preparation for migration and breeding season.
Birds and Blooms: A subscription to Birds and Blooms is a no-brainer, at only $10 a year. The magazine features articles on how to attract birds to your yard, in addition to tips for gardening in a variety of spaces. Articles also expand on bird photography and birding hotspots to help birders increase their skill set and interest beyond the backyard.
Birding magazine: The American Birding Association helps educate birders through their high-quality content, in turn increasing awareness of many issues facing birds. The ABA also provides opportunities for birding trips both within the US and abroad. A one year individual gift membership includes two magazine subscriptions, in addition to extra online content.
Let’s all revel in the beauty that is the December 2018 cover art for a few moments…insert emoji with heart eyes here.
Birdwatcher’s Digest: This birding magazine packs a lot of information into each article. At around $20 for 6 issues, this is well worth it for the amount of content in each magazine. The magazine features articles focusing on back yard birding and top gear choices, but many articles are a step beyond backyard birding, featuring anecdotal and educational stories from some of our most knowledgeable birders.
Now that we’ve got the educational gifts aside, lets dive into the fun ones!
Birding crafts: paint by numbers and paper bird crafts
While our favorite migrants are sipping margaritas in the tropics (that’s what they do in my head, at least), most of us are on the lookout for winter finches or rare wintering raptors. In between these ventures, it is no secret birders spend much more time at home in the winter than other
Plaid Creates Paint by Numbers
Paper Birds: 10 fun feathery friends to pop out and make
Fantastic Press Out Flying Birds
Unique Bird Feeders: Chances are your birder already has a bird feeding
A few years ago, we featured a snow-man-shaped bird feeder by Perky Pet. Along those same lines, check out these cute ladybug and mushroom-shaped feeders from perky pet to add a little whimsy to a feeding station!
Bird-friendly Coffee: If your birder is caffeine-driven, its likely they appreciate Bird Friendly coffee (and so should you!). Bird Friendly coffee is fair-trade, organic, AND shade-grown, and helps birds by upholding habitat and canopy structure within coffee plantations. I’m currently reviewing a few different kinds of Bird Friendly coffee from this list (see future post!), but any option here would make a great gift for a birder or conservationist.
Photo Equipment for Backyard Birding: While you should stay awayfrom buying high end photo equipment as a gift (unless you’re rich and very giving), Bird Photo Booth may be a good choice if you know a casual back yard birder that wants to document their feeder birds in a very adorable way. Make sure to check out their facebook page, where users post helpful tips and work-arounds for the equipment. Use code “blackswan” at checkout for $80 off your order. Here are a few photos taken by my mom in her backyard in PA using Bird Photo Booth.
Outdoor Field Gear
SPOT Tracking Device: If your birder
Zippo Hand Warmers: I purchased a set of these last winter and tried them out this fall at the Cut Bank, Montana hawk watch site. While it wasn’t terribly cold out yet, I was a BIG fan of having a toasty source of heat in my pockets. I placed them in the pockets of my inner fleece layer and they were able to breathe and keep my core warm. I think they would struggle to help keep you warm under 20 degrees, but they may be good for early and late winter seasons. I admit keeping a small container of lighter fluid on your person is a bit odd, but keep in mind they run on a flame-less catalytic burner, and I did NOT catch on fire while using them (I can’t find any reviews where that happened, either, so rest-assured). This burner can last a few years, and is replaceable. I initially looked into these to replace “hot hands” plastic hand-warmers to reduce waste, and I think in practice, they are a good solution. These may be a good choice for the more gadget-oriented birder.
Gifts that benefit Hawaiian Bird Conservation
A good way to make a gift donation is to chose a gift that benefits conservation, and there are a number of critically endangered birds in Hawaii. I can’t imagine a single birder who wouldn’t love this seabird buff, knowing that 25% of the proceeds go to seabird recovery in Hawaii, and 10% go to the Cascadia Research Collective. Another option is the Puaiohi T-shirt; a portion of the profits go to the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Project to save Puaiohi through rodent control and conservation research (note the shirt ships after January 1st).
And I leave you with…the most adorable plushie gift set I have ever seen in my life. Collecting stuffed animals is a phase I never grew out of. These