You may be familiar with the various memes detailing the fact that once you reach middle age, you’re automatically sorted, Harry Potter hat–style, into one of a handful of hobbies, such as sourdough bread making, gardening, or bird-watching. I can’t contradict this, since I’m a middle-aged person who got sorted into bird-watching. But I do know that enjoying birds and their various activities is fun for all ages. Birds are beautiful, interesting, and unpredictable, and it’s fascinating to keep a running life list of all the birds you’ve seen and hope to see in your lifetime.
Whether someone you know is in their bird-watching phase, preparing for this phase, or has been in it for decades, all of these unique gifts—for traveling bird-watchers and backyard bird enthusiasts alike—are things either I or another bird-loving Reviews team member tested, was gifted, or bought IRL and enjoyed.
For more specific equipment recommendations, check out our guides to the Best Smart Bird Feeders and the Best Binoculars. For other gift ideas, check out all our gift guide coverage, including the Best White Elephant Gifts, Best Gifts for Men, and Best Viral TikTok Gifts.
Updated May 2026: I’ve overhauled this guide into a new format, swapped out picks, and added a game, a smart nest box, a journal, and a new jacket. I’ve also ensured that links and prices are up to date.
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Our Favorite Smart Bird Feeder
If you love birds, nothing beats seeing them up close and personal, conducting all their birdy activities. I have learned more about birds in the past two years of testing smart bird feeders than I have over my entire lifetime, such as the fact that cowbirds will lay their eggs in other birds’ nests (such as juncos) and the “host” birds will raise the cowbird chicks as their own, even if they look nothing alike. Or that jays and other corvids are scatter-hoarders, and will spend an entire day picking nuts out of a feeder’s seed mix to hide caches around the yard. There are many smart seed feeders on the market, but Birdfy’s high-quality basic model (available with a blue or yellow roof) stands out for its balance of price, features, reliability, and usability without a subscription, making it a great gift option that I have personally given.
A Family Pick
My mom gifted this to my family about 10 years ago, and to this day, it is the single most-played and most-enjoyed game we have ever owned, in any genre. Shuffle the small cards and call them out; players place a blue cardstock square on their bingo card if they have that bird. My son loved it, his friends loved it, neighbors loved it, extended family loved it—it can be played by up to six people at a time, and is suitable for all ages. No reading or parsing of rules required. Best of all, neither my husband nor I minded playing it multiple times a day for years on end (a bonus feature important for any parent of young kids).
For Beginning Birders
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Bushnell
Powerview 2 8×21 Binoculars
Experienced birders probably already have a decent set of binoculars, but for the birding-curious, kids, or someone just starting out, quality binoculars and a life list journal ($22) would make a great gift. WIRED contributing reviewer Caramel Quin declared these the Best Budget Binoculars. I bought a set for each member of my family for a cruise to Alaska last summer, and I’m glad I did. They’re lightweight (7.2 ounces) yet sturdy, with an aluminum casing instead of plastic, and small enough to slip into a pocket if you’ll be hiking and don’t want to deal with them around your neck.
A Bird Nerd Classic
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 field guides) may be too big and too heavy to fit in a backpack for field reading, but it remains the definitive source for interesting bird facts. Did you know mallard nestlings have only a 15 percent chance of fledging and that once they’re hatched, fewer than half of ducklings survive? And that jays in the Northeastern US often eat paint chips in search of calcium, which doesn’t occur naturally in that region’s soil? Or that chickadees specifically seek out spiders to feed their young for the first week after they hatch, as spiders are high in taurine? Whether you want to or not, you will know all these things and more if you give someone close to you this book.
A Different Kind of Bird Food
My husband and I received this feeder basket and some suet cakes as a gift about 10 years ago. The basket has fallen on the ground countless times; been chewed on and used as gymnastics equipment by squirrels; and survived windstorms, snow, and pretty much everything Pacific Northwest winters have to offer. Sure, looks-wise, it’s seen better days, but it still does the job.
