Just 37 shopping days until Christmas and I've got some ideas for your list.
For the younger set, try My Bird World iPad game. It has four interactive games that help kids learn about 24 bird species, including songs, food and habitats. It includes sounds and photos. My Bird World is available on iTunes for $4.99.
If you're ready to lay out some serious cash, consider the most essential piece of birding gear: binoculars. For the top-of-the-line, you'll pay $2,000 to $2,400 for a pair of Swarovski, Ziess or Leica binoculars. (For information, email me at birding@wsjournal.com.) But you can get a pair of good Nikon Monarch ATB 8x42 binoculars for about $250 at www.eagleoptics.com.
The second most essential piece of gear — and a great stocking stuffer — is a good field guide. There are several excellent guides for around $20, and serious birders usually like to have more than one. You can't go wrong with guides by Kenn Kaufman, the Peterson guide or my personal favorite writer David Sibley.
Birders in our area now have an outstanding resource that augments a field guide: "Birding Guide to Forsyth County" by David Disher, a Forsyth Audubon member. This small book lists every bird species ever documented in Forsyth County. It has simple graphs that show the likelihood of seeing each bird, week-by-week, throughout the year. It also lists the best birding sites in the county and what birds can be seen. While this book is specific to Forsyth County, most of the information can be applied to all the counties in Northwest North Carolina. This book can be purchased for $15 at Wright's Backyard Birding Center, 3906 Country Club Road.
There is a great birding app for the iPhone. It's called iBird Explorer Plus and costs $20. It's an interactive guide to the birds of North America. It doesn't take the place of a good field guide, but, like the Forsyth County guide, it augments it.
That takes care of the wingless set, but don't leave birds off the gift list. In addition to Wright's, Wild Birds Unlimited, at 568 Hanes Mall Blvd., has lots of options. Starting with stocking stuffers, my favorite is a block of suet that helps draw woodpeckers and nuthatches to your feeding station. Get the hot-pepper kind; birds love it and squirrels hate it.
Or maybe a thistle feeder. Thistle, or nygere, is favored by a select few birds like goldfinches and pine siskins, while seed-gobbling grackles disdain these tiny seeds.
Suet and thistle require special feeders, but these are usually inexpensive.
It would be tough to fit in a stocking, but birds and your bird enthusiast will get lots of enjoyment from a big bag of safflower seeds. This is another variety that birds love and squirrels don't. A 20-pound bag will last for weeks, attracting finches, chickadees, cardinals and more.
But for the gift that keeps on giving, a membership in Forsyth Audubon is the best deal you'll find. For just $20, you'll get membership in the local chapter and the National Audubon Society. The beautiful Audubon magazine comes six times a year. And you'll be able to participate in all the great bird walks, field trips, activities and programs that the Forsyth Audubon offers.
Best of all, you'll enjoy the camaraderie of like-minded people and the fun of getting out with people who are generous with their knowledge about birds and other wildlife in our area. Go to www.forsythaudubon.org to learn how to sign up.
- The Forsyth Audubon will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Historic Bethabara Park Visitor Center. Curtis Smalling, N.C. Audubon's mountain biologist, will speak on the "Atlantic Flyway: Birds from North Carolina to Nicaragua and Beyond."
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