An Editor’s Picks: The Best Gifts for Bird Lovers

编辑精选：送给爱鸟人士的最佳礼物

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 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.

你可能熟悉各种网络梗，它们描述了一个事实：一旦步入中年，你就会像被哈利·波特的分类帽选中一样，自动被分配到几种爱好中，比如制作酸种面包、园艺或观鸟。我无法反驳这一点，因为我本人就是一个步入中年并被“分配”到观鸟爱好的中年人。但我确实知道，欣赏鸟类及其各种活动对所有年龄段的人来说都充满乐趣。鸟类美丽、有趣且不可预测，记录下你一生中见过和希望见到的所有鸟类清单，是一件非常迷人的事情。

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.

无论你认识的人正处于观鸟阶段、准备进入这一阶段，还是已经沉浸其中数十年，所有这些独特的礼物——无论是送给旅行观鸟者还是后院观鸟爱好者——都是我或其他热爱观鸟的评测团队成员亲自测试过、收到过或在现实生活中购买并享受过的产品。

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Our Favorite Smart Bird Feeder / 我们最喜爱的智能喂鸟器

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 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.

如果你热爱鸟类，没有什么比近距离观察它们进行各种活动更棒的了。在过去两年测试智能喂鸟器的过程中，我学到的关于鸟类的知识比我一生中了解的还要多。例如，牛鹂会把蛋产在其他鸟类（如灯草鹀）的巢中，“寄主”鸟类会像抚养自己的孩子一样抚养牛鹂雏鸟，即使它们长得完全不像。又或者，松鸦和其他鸦科鸟类是“散乱储存者”，它们会花上一整天时间从喂鸟器的混合种子中挑选坚果，并把它们藏在院子各处。市面上有许多智能喂鸟器，但 Birdfy 的这款高质量基础款凭借其在价格、功能、可靠性和无需订阅的易用性之间的平衡脱颖而出，这使它成为我个人曾赠送过的一份绝佳礼物。

A Family Pick / 家庭首选

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).

大约 10 年前，我妈妈把这款游戏送给了我们家。直到今天，它仍然是我们拥有过的所有类型游戏中，玩得最多、最受欢迎的一款。洗好小卡片并叫出名字；如果玩家的宾果卡上有那只鸟，就放上一张蓝色卡纸方块。我儿子喜欢它，他的朋友们喜欢它，邻居们喜欢它，亲戚们也喜欢它——它最多可供六人同时游玩，适合所有年龄段。无需阅读或解析规则。最棒的是，我和我丈夫多年来每天玩上好几次也不觉得厌烦（这对任何有小孩的父母来说都是一个重要的加分项）。

For Beginning Birders / 给观鸟初学者

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 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.

经验丰富的观鸟者可能已经有一副不错的双筒望远镜了，但对于那些对观鸟感到好奇的人、孩子或刚入门的人来说，一副高质量的双筒望远镜和一本生命清单日志将是一份很棒的礼物。《连线》特约评论员 Caramel Quin 称其为“最佳预算双筒望远镜”。去年夏天去阿拉斯加游轮旅行时，我为家里的每位成员都买了一副，我很庆幸自己这么做了。它们重量轻（7.2 盎司）且坚固，采用铝制外壳而非塑料，而且体积小巧，如果你在徒步旅行时不想把它们挂在脖子上，完全可以塞进兜里。

A Bird Nerd Classic / 鸟类爱好者的经典之作

This 8- by 11-inch hardcover by famed ornithologist David Sibley 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.

这本由著名鸟类学家大卫·西布利（以其《西布利观鸟指南》闻名）撰写的 8x11 英寸精装书，可能因为太大太重而无法放入背包进行野外阅读，但它仍然是了解有趣鸟类知识的权威来源。你知道吗？绿头鸭雏鸟成功离巢的几率只有 15%，而且孵化后，存活下来的小鸭子不到一半。还有，美国东北部的松鸦经常吃油漆碎片来获取钙质，因为该地区的土壤中天然缺乏钙。或者，山雀在雏鸟孵化后的第一周会专门寻找蜘蛛来喂养它们，因为蜘蛛含有丰富的牛磺酸？无论你是否愿意，如果你把这本书送给你亲近的人，你都会了解到所有这些知识以及更多内容。

A Different Kind of Bird Food / 另一种鸟食

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. Suet—beef fat, if we’re being explicit; the solid-form cousin to…

大约 10 年前，我和丈夫收到过这个喂食篮和一些牛脂饼作为礼物。这个篮子掉在地上无数次；被松鼠啃咬并当作体操器材；还经受住了暴风雨、大雪以及太平洋西北地区冬季几乎所有恶劣天气的考验。当然，从外观上看，它已经不如从前了，但它依然能完成任务。牛脂——说得直白点就是牛油；它是……的固体形式表亲。