actually good holiday gifts for the urban naturalist
i have most of this stuff but other ppl might want it
happy december! winter is arguably my favorite time of year for nyc wildlife. swarms of gulls and waterfowl take refuge in the ny estuary while northern birds like finches and owls get pushed out of canada by various food and weather-related forces. it’s also the most interesting time for me because i love getting presents.
i’m a tech writer at heart and gift guides are an important piece of wintertime content for tech blogs. i’ve only written one entry to one gift guide ever and everyone hated my opinion. but i figured that now i buy enough things to know what a nature lover wants for the holidays. so i’ve put some things below with my opinions. don’t buy these things for me, i own almost all of them.
oh and i wanted to do some of the postscript before the text below since i assume no one is reading the whole of this gift guide. the nyc audubon young conservationist council is hosting a free bird trivia night in nyc! register here. it’ll be december 12 from 7-9pm at the gray mare in the lower east side.
ok heres some gifts:
looking at birds
i’ll start with some basics. first: every outdoorsperson needs binoculars, but binoculars are expensive. hands down the best image for the lowest cost are the celestron nature dx ($170 but can be as cheap as $110 depending on where and when you get them). they’re light, the image is good, and they last a long time—i had my pair for five years before i replaced them.
a note on buying binoculars: the standard “birder binoculars” are 8 x 42, where 8 is the amount of zoom (8x) and 42 is the diameter of the front lens (42mm) which determines how much light the binoculars let in. other popular sizes are 8 x 32, 10 x 42, and 10 x 50. 8s are better for closer birds or smaller birds, like birding in the woods, while 10s are better for far away birds, like birding on a mudflat or the ocean. less zoom than 8 and you won’t be able to make out details; more zoom than 10 will make it hard to keep the image steady. 32s are lighter than 42s which are lighter than 50s, but the smaller binoculars may have a slightly dimmer image.
for some, enjoying nature is more of a passive experience, like watching birds at bird feeders. if i was getting someone a first bird feeder, i’d get the perky pet cardinal feeder ($30) because it’s cheap, supports a wide variety of birds, and it’s pretty easy to clean by hand. it is not squirrel proof. inside that feeder, i put the kaytee ultimate birder’s blend seed (~$20/10lbs), which i mix with feeder fresh ($10) to keep things dry. remind first timers to clean their setup approximately weekly and that if a sick-looking bird shows up, like a lethargic one or a warty-looking one, then take the feeders down, wash them, and leave them down for a few weeks.
best drip
i think most nature lovers like clothes with nature things on them. that’s especially true if the clothes look actually cool. thankfully there are a lot of folks making some really excellent stuff. obviously there’s bird collective, and right now my favorite thing from them is this hat with earflaps ($35). one artist i follow, kate dolamore, does awesome all-over-print clothes and i’ve been thinking about maybe buying a bomber jacket from her ($76). parks project also has some excellent streetwear. i’ve been eyeing this butterfly fleece ($120). a lot of my birder friends get t-shirts from code5 designs, like the steller’s sea eagle world tour t-shirt. ($25)
for accessories: jabebo sells dangly earrings ($18) made from recycled cereal boxes with all sorts of nature and wildlife imagery. and i still don’t know why this binocular strap is $125, but it looks really cool. i use a binocular harness ($30) instead.
of course, most nature lovers will be very appreciative of warm wool socks or anything that says carhartt on it.
but if your nature loving friend’s drip stops with drip coffee, you might consider getting them something bird-friendly. i’ve tried lots of bird-friendly coffees, and my favorites consistently come from tree frog coffees ($20+). their website is kinda janky, which i consider a feature, not a bug.
gadgets and accessories
there are lots of gifts that can make people’s outdoorstime better. first, i regret to inform you that despite my own personal hatred of the aeropress ($50), most coffee-drinking birders would probably enjoy how quickly it makes good coffee. i always like a particularly fancy thermos ($30) or water bottle ($20).
another underappreciated object, especially for people who like nocturnal insect and wildlife viewing, is a solid headlamp or flashlight. i have this headlamp ($90, but it regularly goes on sale for $70 or less). speaking of light, one of my favorite gadgets right now is a cheap ring light ($10) which i clip onto my phone and use to take pictures of moths at night. it works extremely well for this.
nature enjoyment in nyc usually doesn’t require lots of gadgetry because you’re never far from civilization, but there are a few things i find myself using frequently. i’m always with my absolutely cavernous columbia backpack ($60), but if i had to get a new backpack i’d get this osprey daylite pack ($75). i like opinel knives (the one linked is $55, but they have lots of cheaper ones), which i usually use to open packages of food i bring on longer days out. and during the summer, i’m always thankful when i remember to pack my flexlite chair ($70, but you can find cheaper ones) into my backpack.
among the most gear-interested subsets of naturalists is photographers. if your friend is a photographer, you’re best not getting them camera gear unless you know what they have, what they don’t have, and what they want. however, there’s one thing photographers always need more of: storage. a good portable hard drive (~$100) would be appreciated, and if they take video, a V90 SD card ($150) with lots of space will get a lot of use. you might also consider getting one of their favorite photos framed for them.
and finally, this doesn’t fit anywhere else but check out this lego flower bouquet ($60).
some books i bet every nature lover will like
i personally like receiving books as gifts. i don’t read them; i hoard them like a dragon hoards their gold. but here are some books i actually will open up and read, especially if there are pictures in them.
for impatient people like me, there are lots of cool new field guides out. first: lynx is coming out with a field guide to the birds of the mesozoic (30 euro). i can’t wait to own this. second, in some sort of publisher’s fire sale, i ended up with a copy of wild urban plants of the northeast ($35), and i’ve read almost the whole thing. i just really like the author’s philosophy on “invasive species” and its selection of plants are ones that urban naturalists really do encounter. finally, there is no better bird book to have come out this century than rosemary mosco’s a pocket guide to pigeon watching ($15).
if you have more patience than me, there are books for you, too. i really enjoyed doug futuyma’s how birds evolve ($30), sibley’s what it’s like to be a bird ($20), and danielle belleny’s this is a book for people who love birds ($12). i’m also really excited to own drew lanham’s the home place ($16) and jessica hernandez’s fresh banana leaves ($18).
some people don’t need gifts—they just want you to think of them. consider making donations to the adirondack council (it comes with a loon plushie) or adopt a kakapo (it comes with a kakapo plushie) in their name. other organizations doing cool wildlife stuff in nyc without plushies are the nyc plover project, wild bird fund, feminist bird club (c.o.i. note, i’m a regular volunteer for them), nyc audubon, amplify the future, etc.
and finally: a lot of folks just like things with their favorite animals on them. look up their favorite species on etsy and see if there are any prints ($20+), sculptures ($10+), or accessories ($10+) like enamel pins and patches. look up artists, many of whom might do commissions for you. but beware: do not buy etsy taxidermy. while it’s fun, you can’t guarantee that what you’re going to buy won’t have arsenic in it, and etsy doesn’t enforce wildlife trade laws, so you also can’t guarantee that the species is legal for the seller to sell or for you to buy.
things i dont recommend (at least, not without asking first)
trendy startup bird observing kits. haikubox ($250+60/yr) ai sound identification is still famously hard and often wrong, and the best ai sound id out there, merlin, is free. merlin doesn’t offer the remote and alert functionality like haikubox, though. with bird buddy ($200), you could jerry-rig your own version for cheaper, or just watch someone else’s bird feeder livestream. again, some might like the alert functionality. finally, i noticed that nocs ($90) binoculars have a worse image than most other binoculars you could get for that price, but i really like my nocs zoom tube ($75) because of how portable it is, and their binocular straps ($27) are cute too. if you’re opting for nocs because don’t like how heavy other bins are, also consider 8x32s from other reputable brands.
field guides to the local birds, unless you know the person is totally new to birding. people who like nature usually have a bird field guide for the place they live. if you’re going to get someone a field guide, think outside the box. how about a field guide to some other kind of plant or animal like mammals ($20), mushrooms ($20), or flower flies ($20)??? what about a field guide to a place they said they’ve always dreamed of going ($70)?
wingspan ($65). most nature lovers—especially most birders— already have this board game. they got it last year or the year before. if you really think it’s the perfect gift for your bird-loving board game-playing friend, you should really ask whether they have it, first. if they have it and like it, consider getting them an expansion pack instead (~$40), or other cool nature board games like mariposas (~$30) or fly-a-way (~$50+ international shipping). if they don’t play board games, wingspan is a little too complex and they probably won’t play it.
postscript
capitalism is bad but presents are the best.
