I know I’m probably bias, but I think the best gift you could give someone is a bird feeder. I felt this way long before I ever got in the business; shortly after my grandfather died we dropped in unexpectedly on my grandmother, it was almost lunch time and we had picked something up and were going to eat with her. It took her a long time to come to the door and when she did she was still in her pajamas, she said she’d been watching TV but it was obvious we woke her. This was a woman who was always up before dawn and had done the work of 2 people complete with a large breakfast on the table when her husband passed through the kitchen on his way to work.
My father asked her if she was going to get dressed and she responded that there wasn’t much point.
After our visit we were doing a little shopping, Dad was picking out the customary house coat and slippers for Nana when I said that’s just depressing. He tossed them back on the shelf and we wandered. We ended up in the bird feeder section where he bought a new feeder for himself, I said why not get one for Nana. He started to object but then thought more, she loved the birds when she visited our house, she certainly had lots of time on her hands now and really needed a reason to get up and out.
So we started with a window feeder, a good steel canister, seed scoop and a bag of sunflower seed. It was the most exciting part of Christmas for me, when we pasted her the small box with the window feeder, she raised an eyebrow, she no doubt was expecting another pair of pajamas and must have been thinking anything that would fit in this box would be a little risque to be opening in front of the kids.
She wasn’t very enthused with the gift at first, I guess it was like getting a new remote control truck and not having any batteries, but when she opened the seed, scoop and canister she was already seeing this had possibilities. By the time the chickadees started making regular trips back and forth from our identical feeder she was excited, when the grosbeaks started she couldn’t wait to get home.
When we dropped her off it was dark, but we put the feeder in the window, waited to make sure it would stay on (cold glass isn’t a suction cups best friend). To hurry things along we beat down an area of snow and spread some seed around the lawn. When we came in the house she was rearranging the living room, she couldn’t see the shrub from her favourite chair and she figured that would be where much of the action would take place.
As usual the season was hectic and we kind of forgot about the feeder, the next time we dropped in, she was up, dressed and rosy cheeked having just came in from filling the feeder. A much nicer picture than what greeted us a few weeks earlier. Her only complaint was there wasn’t enough room for all the birds to feed at once, she didn’t mind filling it 3 times a day she just didn’t like it when the chickadees had to wait for the grosbeaks to fill up before getting their turn. Not a problem, when we finished our visit we headed to the store for a larger feeder, we filled it at the store and snuck back to Nana’s house and hung it in the shrub. When the phone was ringing shortly after dawn the next morning, we had a good idea who it was.
Now we had a new tradition, no more slippers, now it was feeders, I guess in a way we were lucky back then, we didn’t know about the lifetime warranty feeders so we always new at least one thing to buy, replace the old beat up feeder we got her last year. But there were speciality bird treats, books and even a cheap pair of binoculars so she could get better views.
If you’re shopping for someone who you think may develop an interest in bird watching, start with a feeder, not a house. If you hang a bird house Christmas morning they’ll likely be staring at it for 4 months before you see any action at all. A feeder on the other hand could be doing a brisk business by lunch time.
You can get someone started in a life long hobby for as little as $10, a cheap feeder and some seed. If it’s a gift for someone who may not be able to fill it by themselves, be ready to get them a larger feeder so they won’t have to worry about getting someone to fill it every day.
If the person on your shopping list already enjoys feeding birds you have many possibilities for gifts they will appreciate. There is the larger feeder, species specific feeders like suet, nyjer and peanuts. Even small bird specific feeders if they are complaining about bullies at the feeders.
If they already have enough feeders (although I haven’t met many people who think they have enough, only their spouses), you may want to give a bird house, a different, possibly better field guide, an online membership or subscription to a birding magazine. A pair of binoculars will open a whole new world of birds to someone who doesn’t already own a pair. A better pair will make a huge difference to most people too, try to get a look through the pair they are using, if the image isn’t great this may be a good gift idea. Be ready to spend at least $100 for a good starter pair and you can get a fantastic pair for $200, if this is out of your range consider going together with family members or giving a gift certificate towards a good pair. The really cheap binoculars don’t make the grade for birding and usually deteriorate from use. Avoid gimmicks like zoom, ruby coated optics, built in radios, built in digital cameras.
There are so many gift ideas for the bird watcher in your family that you never have to worry about what you’re going to give again.
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