The 15 Best Tried and Tested Gifts for Bird Lovers (2025)

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• A Smart Seed Feeder

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    Courtesy of Birdfy

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    Photograph: Medea Giordano

  Netvue

  Birdfy Plastic Smart Bird Feeder

  If you emotion birds, thing thumps seeing them up adjacent and personal, conducting each their birdy activities. I person learned much astir birds successful nan past twelvemonth of testing smart vertebrate feeders than I person complete my full lifetime, specified arsenic nan truth that cowbirds will laic their eggs successful different birds' nests (such arsenic juncos') and nan “host” birds will raise nan cowbird chicks arsenic their own, moreover if they look thing alike. Or that jays and different corvids are scatter-hoarders, and will walk an full time picking nuts retired of a feeder's seed operation to hide caches astir nan yard. There are galore smart seed feeders connected nan market, but Birdfy's basal exemplary stands retired for its equilibrium of price, features, reliability, and usability without a subscription, making it a awesome gift action I've personally given.

• For Beginning Birders

  

  Photograph: Caramel Quin

  Bushnell

  Powerview 2 8x21 Binoculars

  Experienced birders astir apt already person a decent group of binoculars, but for nan birding-curious, kids, aliases personification conscionable starting out, value binoculars and a life database diary ($17) would make a awesome gift. WIRED contributing reviewer Caramel Quin declared these nan Best Budget Binoculars. I bought a group for each personnel of my family for a cruise to Alaska this summer, and I'm gladsome I did. They're lightweight (7.2 ounces) yet sturdy, pinch an aluminium casing alternatively of plastic, and they're mini capable to gaffe into a pouch if you'll beryllium hiking and don't want to woody pinch them astir your neck.

• A Smart Hummingbird Feeder

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

  • 

    Photograph: Kat Merck

  Bird Buddy

  Pro Smart Solar Hummingbird Feeder

  Smart seed feeders are wonderful, but travel pinch their ain database of challenges, including pillaging by squirrels and rats, positive fields of germinated seeds. If you'd alternatively not woody pinch nan aforementioned but still want to spot birds up close, past a smart hummingbird feeder mightiness beryllium a much low-maintenance choice. Sure, you still person to alteration nan nectar each fewer days, but if you're not capable to tract a feeder wherever squirrels won't ravage it, this is nan smart hummingbird feeder I for illustration most, pinch an easy-to-maintain reservoir and exceedingly user-friendly app.

• For Bird-Loving Gamers

  

  Courtesy of Stonemaier Games

  WIRED reviewer Simon Hill, our staff committee crippled aficionado, says this award-winning card-driven crippled will entreaty to anyone willing successful birds, arsenic it pairs strategy pinch plentifulness of acquisition accusation astir different vertebrate species. It tin consciousness analyzable astatine first, truthful it's astir apt champion for families pinch kids older than 10, but erstwhile you get nan bent of it, it tin beryllium addictive. (Up to 5 group tin play, but you tin besides play solo.) Playing clip is 40 to 70 minutes.

• A Smart Birdbath

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  This camera-equipped birdbath from Birdfy, shaper of our favorite smart vertebrate feeder, will nonstop your recipient entertaining 1080p photos and 2K videos of birds—and different backyard visitors—drinking, bathing, aliases conscionable pausing to ponder their adjacent move.

  I tested nan Bath Pro for respective months, and my favourite portion was really nan non-bird visitors who showed up—squirrels, raccoons, and moreover a ample spider triggered tons of funny footage for maine to watch, save, and send. The birdbath's shallow reservoir has a inclination to pull algae successful nan sun, and nan foam filters are easy clogged and must beryllium cleaned often (it comes pinch other filters, which was useful for maine erstwhile a raccoon reached successful and made disconnected pinch one, for immoderate reason). But nan star pump useful well, nan Birdfy app is nosy and easy to use, and immoderate relationship issues I encountered during my first-round tests look to person been mitigated pinch a caller app update.

• Put a Camera Anywhere

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

  • 

    Photograph: Kat Merck

  If your recipient has an existing vertebrate feeder they like, aliases a seasonal nesting tract location astir their location aliases property, they mightiness emotion a standalone vertebrate camera. This 1 is nan champion I've tested, compatible pinch some 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Wi-Fi networks. The tiny greenish owl look streams 4K HD video and pushes 1080p pics to nan Hibird app. There's entree to AI recognition (which I recovered to conscionable beryllium OK), livestreaming, and Hibird's “Dr. Bird” Chat GPT-like thief feature, which allows you to inquire bird-related questions. (I didn't find it to beryllium peculiarly helpful, but YMMV.)

  The auxiliary star sheet tin beryllium mounted separately, aliases you tin conscionable return nan camera wrong to complaint erstwhile nan artillery runs out, arsenic I did—the artillery complaint lasts astatine slightest respective weeks. The camera comes pinch a bracket and bendable limb for precise positioning, aliases you tin jury-rig a civilization solution. No subscription is needed for use, though a Hibird rep says that whitethorn alteration successful nan future.

• A Bird Nerd Classic

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  David Allen Sibley

  "What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing—What Birds Are Doing, and Why"

  This 8- by 11-inch hardcover by famed ornithologist David Sibley (known for his Sibley guides) whitethorn beryllium excessively large and excessively dense to fresh successful a backpack for section reading, but it remains nan definitive root for absorbing vertebrate facts. Did you cognize mallard nestlings person only a 15 percent chance of fledging and that erstwhile they're hatched, less than half of ducklings survive? And that jays successful nan northeastern US often eat overgarment chips successful hunt of calcium, which doesn't hap people successful that region's soil? Or that chickadees specifically activity retired spiders to provender their young for nan first week aft they hatch, arsenic spiders are precocious successful taurine? Whether you want to aliases not, you will cognize each these things and much if you springiness personification adjacent to you this book.

• The Ultimate Bird Poster

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Pop Chart Lab

  Birds of North America Poster

  If you've ever wondered really galore birds unrecorded successful North America, this poster displays each 740 of them successful 1 chart, some autochthonal and nonnative, arranged by size and order. It's some acquisition and a surefire speech starter. In fact, I’ve had this floor plan framed successful my home's entryway for almost 8 years, and I don’t deliberation a azygous personification has visited my location for nan first clip and not commented connected it, sloppy of their ornithological liking level. It's really fascinating successful person, and moreover if your giftee is already well-versed successful birds, they'll astir apt still study thing new.

• Feed Birds Without a Yard

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Nature's Hangout

  Window Bird Feeder

  I primitively bought this suction-cup model feeder to entertain my boy erstwhile he was young, but nan astir enthusiastic assemblage ended up being my 2 cats. When nan feeder is up, they walk each time crouched beneath nan window, bodies tense and waiting for nan cleanable infinitesimal to leap retired astatine an unsuspecting finch aliases sparrow. Thankfully, this ne'er seemed to deter nan birds. The suction cups kept it perfectly positioned, moreover erstwhile squirrels beryllium connected it, truthful it’s cleanable for apartments aliases anyplace a pole- aliases wall-mounted feeder wouldn't make sense. This is simply a awesome gift to bundle pinch a container of mess-free birdseed, below.

• Mess-Free Birdseed

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Cool Birds

  No Waste Bird Seed

  Feeding birds is nosy and all, but these small dinosaurs are ferocious erstwhile it comes to picky eating. Like toddlers astatine nan meal table, thing they don't want (like millet)—as good arsenic nan hulls and shells of what they did—gets thrown connected nan ground. Once h2o gets connected these unsightly middens, nan seeds sprout, truthful each of a abrupt you person weeding to do connected apical of filling and cleaning nan feeders.

  If you're gifting a feeder aliases feeder accessories, see throwing successful immoderate mess-free seed. Cool Birds makes a mates versions that besides incorporate capsaicin (the chemic compound that makes peppers spicy; it only bothers mammals), ostensibly to support distant squirrels. Most squirrels are only temporarily deterred by this, but location are besides non-spicy varieties. I tested nan “Hearts connected Fire” hulled sunflowers, and while it chiefly attracted finches, I appreciated that little provender ended up connected nan crushed and I could hold longer successful betwixt refills.

• For Dry Bird-Watching Gear

  

  Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

  Fjällräven

  High Coast Rolltop 26

  The champion birding doesn't ever hap successful pleasant weather. (If you're looking for owls, for example, nan champion clip is successful winter, erstwhile nan leaves are disconnected nan trees.) If you want to protect cogwheel specified arsenic binoculars, cameras, and notebooks, you'll request a weatherproof backpack. This 26L waterproof roll-top is 1 of WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson's all-time favourite time packs, pinch a 400D polyamide exterior and seam taping. The padding is minimal, but Scott said successful his guideline to nan Best Day-Hiking Backpacks that he recovered it to beryllium perfectly comfortable up to astir 10 to 12 pounds.

• A Stylish Puzzle

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Pomegranate

  Charley Harper Birducopia 1,000-piece Jigsaw Puzzle

  Portland, Oregon-based patient Pomegranate makes a full statement of puzzles featuring stylized vertebrate creation by nan precocious modernist creator Charley Harper. My family first spotted them years agone successful nan gift area astatine a section plot center, and since then, we've either bought aliases been fixed astir each Charley Harper puzzle nan institution has made. The frame-worthy designs see tropical birds, godforsaken birds, coastal birds, raptors, migrations, and more, pinch pieces ranging from 500 to 1,000. I'm hard-pressed to find a favorite.

• For Birders Who Love Adventure

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Jonathan C. Slaght

  "Owls of nan Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save nan World's Largest Owl"

  Until reference this book, I had ne'er heard of Blakiston's food owl. And apparently neither had nan author, bird-watcher and biologist Jonathan Slaght, until he caught show of one—the world's largest surviving owl. What followed was a five-year passion task to catalog nan owl successful a distant region of eastbound Russia. Part recreation adventure, portion technological study, and portion memoir, this much-lauded nonfiction book sounds for illustration a caller and will beryllium a page-turner for anyone who enjoys birds, exploration, aliases nan outdoors.

• Sock It to Me

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Happy Wings

  Refillable Nyjer Thistle Sock Feeder

  A batch of backyard birders usage nyjer seed, an herb autochthonal to Africa, because squirrels shun it and it doesn't thin to sprout connected nan crushed for illustration accepted feed. You tin spot it successful a regular tube-style feeder, but I for illustration utilizing a seed sock, which nan birds look to for illustration better—it's much authentic to nan acquisition of pulling a seed retired of dried flower heads. Nyjer seed is peculiarly tasty to finches of each kinds, but nan chickadees successful my gait for illustration it arsenic well.

  Because of nyjer's lipid content, it's a awesome seed to adhd successful nan wintertime for other calories, but if you are utilizing a seed sock, make judge to return it down erstwhile it rains, arsenic nan moisture could make nan seeds moldy.

  Note that it whitethorn return a while for birds to observe nan nyjer seed, particularly if they're not utilized to it aliases alarmed by nan quality of nan sock. My backyard birds took astir a week, but different sources opportunity it tin return up to three, truthful don't springiness up if it's not an contiguous hit.

• Savory Suet

  

  Courtesy of C&S

  My hubby and I received this feeder handbasket and immoderate suet cakes arsenic a gift astir 10 years ago. The handbasket has fallen connected nan crushed countless times; been chewed connected and utilized arsenic gymnastics instrumentality by squirrels; and survived windstorms, snow, and beautiful overmuch everything Pacific Northwest winters person to offer. Sure, it's seen amended days looks-wise, but it still does nan job.

  Suet—beef fat, if we're being explicit; nan solid-form relative to rendered tallow—attracts a different assortment of birds than seeds, chiefly insect-eaters for illustration flickers and bushtits. It tends to melt and spell fishy successful nan heat, truthful I for illustration nan melt-free basking capsicum variety, which tin beryllium utilized year-round and has been deemed unpalatable by our vicinity squirrels.