BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS GIVING (12/07/01)

My first thought for Christmas gifts, both to give and to receive, is books. Fortunately for birders, many new ones are filling bookstores’ and specialty shops’ shelves.

If you’ve got an itch to travel, then, I have the book for you! The new “Where the Birds Are: The 100 best birdwatching spots in North America” will help you make your plans no matter which direction you intend to head. The national parks and wildlife refuges, state parks, nature preserves, research stations, forests and canyons covered in this book are from every corner of the United States and Canada.

Each site description includes sections on habitat, bird life and visitor information, as well as a map and directions. Over four hundred crystal-clear color photographs accompany the text and add immeasurably to its content. You may be as surprised as I that the Cape Cod National Seashore was not among the locations chosen, but I suppose that the task of selecting only 100 places was a difficult one.

Where the Birds Are is National Wildlife Federation publication, written by Brown, Buff, Gallagher and Streiffert, is published by Dorling Kindersley, and retails for $30.

Another new book, also published by Dorling Kindersley, is the Smithsonian Handbook “Birds of North America,” (available in Eastern and Western regions) retailing for $24.95 This visually compelling and comprehensive tome is packed with information. Its helpful introduction covers the anatomy and topography of a bird, variations within species, how to identify birds both on the ground and in the air, behaviors, abundance and distribution, watching birds in the backyard and in the field and tips on how be a better birder.

On the nearly 700 pages that follow are profiles of each species, one species per page, with information of song, behavior, breeding, nesting, population status and conservation, as well as an excellent photograph and drawings that show the bird’s flight pattern, similar birds and a range map. Succinct information also provides a wide variety of statistics. This should become a staple in every birder’s library.

Another new book targets a more limited audience, one that lives in or plans to visit Massachusetts and is a beginner at birding. The Birds of Massachusetts, published by Adventure Publications of Cambridge, MN and retailing for $13.95, devotes one page to each of 121 Massachusetts birds, arranged by the bird’s color. Each species is depicted with a high quality photo.

Earlier this year I reviewed three newly-published and important books for all bird watchers: Kenn Kaufman’s must-have field guide,“Birds of North America,” David David Sibley’s Guide to the Birds and his Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. These outstanding books should be part of every birder’s library.

Of course, there are shelves full of other useful and interesting books that beg to be chosen for someone’s reference collection, but there are also other items that will please anyone who loves his backyard birds. Tapes of bird calls are helpful for those who want to learn the sounds of local birds.

Most every birder would welcome a gift of the many specialty seeds, such as safflower (which many squirrels eschew) and sunflower hearts (more expensive than those in shells but without the waste) that most people won’t buy for themselves but would be happy to have. Furthermore, no one on the Cape can have too large a stock of thistle seeds. Our goldfinches chow them down at an astonishing rate.

Here’s an unusual gift I just discovered: “Bill Bird-in-Hand,” a durable, weather-resistant figure of a guy, Bill, in shirt and hat, holding his hand out to feed the birds with the seeds that you put in it. Bill gets the birds trained to eat from his hand; then you slip into his shirt and hat and take his place, and YOU have the birds eating out of your hand! This is a great time-saving way to accomplish what some people describe as a miracle. You can order Bill by dialing 1-800-558-1013 and use the code number 30355. Cost $58.99 + $8.95 S & H.

There are always new models of feeders that make bird feeding more fun, such as the Yankee Flipper (made by those reliable folks at Droll Yankee), a feeder that flips squirrels harmlessly to the ground and thwarts their efforts to dine on seeds. Birdbaths make special gifts, especially the convenient, thermostatically-controlled (and therefore electrically economical) models.

Like many other hobbies, new and improved styles of almost every accouterment come on the market to entice birders. Binoculars are no exception. For a long period of time, many of us bought our optics from Eagle Optics, a middleman in Wisconsin. Now Eagle has brought out its own brand, and even its low-end models are quite acceptable for those who are not-too-serious birders. Priced from $59 to $478, there’s something in their line for everyone. Studying your backyard birds without binoculars is like playing golf with only one type of club. No one who watches birds should be without a pair of binoculars!