- Add to your bird lovers collection with a gift of bird seed and bird seed accessories. If you're thinking your bird-loving friend has enough equipment already, most birders won't say no to another birdhouse. Combine a gift of bird seed with audio recordings or birds to help your friend work on her call identification skills, or with a bird identification guide or pair of binoculars. Bird seed comes in many styles. When presented well, it makes a nice, reasonably priced gift for a seasoned or amateur bird watcher.
- Decorative seed cakes make a nice gift for birding enthusiast. Seed cakes from Doctors Foster & Smith can be ordered in a decorative mold, such as a snowman, birdhouse or star. Seed cakes also come in spheres with dried cranberries, blueberries, raisins and seeds to attract real birds.
- Make a special bird seed pouch out of scrap fabric or yarn, or recycle an old sachet, wine bottle bag or other decorative case. Cornell University's "What to Feed Birds" lists some common seed, nut, fruit and other material that you can combine for a homemade bird seed mix. Black sunflower seeds are a staple, but birds can also eat dried berries, popcorn, fresh fruit and even crushed eggshell.
- Birdhousevillages.com offers funky birdhouses and birdhouse kits for the eclectic bird lover in your life. The kits come with instructions and can be assembled with wood glue. Create a gift bag of bird seed or seed cakes to go with the birdhouse kit, and include a wood stain or some paint to get the completed birdhouse looking snazzy. Assembled birdhouses from Birdhousevillage.com may resemble Japanese lanterns, tiki huts or old RVs.
- Duncraft offers a birdseed seed-of-the-month club, sending out monthly shipments of five or 10 pounds of premium birdseed. Monthly seed selection might include chickadee blend, whole sunflower hearts, songbird blend or finch mix. You can choose a three, five, eight or 12-month membership for your gift.
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