Top 10 2014 Holiday Gifts for Birders and for Birds

This article is from 2014, but you can check out the latest gifts here.

Here’s a list of holiday gift suggestions to appeal to any bird or nature lover on your list. These are gifts that improve the mind, create fun, and highlight the beauty of the natural world. A portion of the proceeds from all these items will support the Lab’s bird education and conservation efforts. Check out our website for a full list of holiday “birdy” gifts.

Cornell Lab 2015 Calendar
Spend a year with the birds! This new calendar features great photos with fascinating facts about each species. This colorful cast of characters is yours with a gift to the Lab of $10 or more. ($10)

Project FeederWatch
You can now give FeederWatch as gift, introducing friends and family to this long-running citizen-science project. By submitting bird observations to the Lab, participants contribute to scientific understanding and learn more about their backyard friends along the way. In order for the kit to arrive by December 24, please order by November 30. ($18)

Tutorials and Webinars
The gift of knowledge is priceless. Cornell Lab tutorials and webinars will appeal to beginning and intermediate birds who can’t get enough about bird identification and behavior. The “Be a Better Birder” self-guided tutorials and one-hour, expert-led webinars on ID for shorebirds, waterfowl, and raptors each put greater bird knowledge well within reach. ($10 to $29 each)

Bird Sounds and BNA: Master Set Bundle
This year the Lab is offering a special pairing of the Cornell Guide to Bird Sounds: Master Set for North America and the unparalleled Birds of North American Online reference. This combo includes a one-year subscription to BNA Online, the most complete source of  information for the more than 700 species of birds that breed in Canada and the United States.  Each species account includes the latest science as well as photos, sounds, and videos of interesting behaviors. The new, revised Master Set includes multiple examples of sounds for each of 737 bird species—a total of more than 4,900 tracks. This version of the Master Set requires less storage space than the original. ($69.99; a 20%  savings over separate purchase of these items)

Essential Set Bundle
This package includes a six-month subscription to Birds of North America Online and the Cornell Guide to Bird Sounds: Essential Set for North America. The Essential Set provides the most common sounds of 729 bird species found in North America with 1,379 tracks. ($24.99; save more than 30% over purchase of these items separately)

Birds and Beans Gift Set—Coffee for Everyone!
Just in time for the holidays, get more than 25% off this special gift set. It contains a dozen 12-ounce bags of Bird-Friendly certified coffee, including Wood Thrush Breakfast Roast, American Redstart Light Roast, Scarlet Tanager French Roast, and more. Ground or whole bean available. Your purchase supports organic, fair trade, shade-grown coffee farms that shelter migratory birds. (Here’s our full shade coffee page that clarifies what coffee labels mean and explains why Bird-Friendly coffee really lives up to its name.) A portion of the proceeds supports Cornell Lab conservation efforts. ($115, includes shipping)

BirdSleuth Game Cards
Hit the deck! This deck of 5″ x 7″ game cards from the Cornell Lab’s BirdSleuth K-12 program has full-color images of the 36 most common backyard birds, plus games and a bonus online quiz. With each purchase you also receive a finch sock feeder, two bird ID posters, and BirdSleuth Investigator, the program’s kid-friendly publication. ($14.95)

Bird Spy Bingo Cards
This is a great stocking stuffer from the Cornell Lab’s BirdSleuth program! Each dry-erase card invites kids outside to look for birds. Spotting a group of birds, a colorful bird, a feather, or even bird droppings can help you win bingo! Play while traveling, out for a walk, or just sitting in your backyard. Cards are available in English and Spanish. ($1.50)

Bird Apps
Find more birds with BirdsEye, upload sightings from the field with BirdLog, or discover 24 North American birds in four games for kids with My Bird World ($4.99–$19.99). Then toss in the Merlin Bird ID® app for good measure to help beginning birders ID more than 400 North American species—it’s free!

Cornell Lab Membership
Lab membership supports efforts to improve the understanding and protection of birds around the world. The quarterly Living Bird magazine is included with every one-year supporter gift membership. ($44) You can introduce someone new to the Lab at the one-year Newsletter level ($29) and they will receive our All About Birds newsletter geared for beginning to intermediate bird watchers.

For more gifts that support the Cornell Lab, check out our full holiday shopping guide.