RRBO logo items and other gifts

Here is the RRBO holiday gift guide!

RRBO-related gifts:

• Our logo items are in our Cafe Press store. You'll find t-shirts and other apparel, mugs, notebooks, buttons, and other items. I've also just added new notecards featuring Eastern Bluebird and Mourning Warbler (in additions to the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher postcards) and a 2010 calendar with a gorgeous Magnolia Warbler. I lowered all the prices, and proceeds go to support RRBO research.
• The Birds of Dearborn, An Annotated Checklist. Paperback, download, or from Amazon.com. More info here.

Books:

• I have a slew of recommended books at the RRBO web site. Any books you purchase through the links on that page (or here on the blog) earn a small commission for RRBO, which supports our research. Of those books, I especially recommend the new Sibley Guide to Trees; the fun Good Birders Don't Wear White: 50 Tips From North America's Top Birders, in which I have a chapter; and Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded, which I wrote about here.
• In addition to those books, I'd also like to recommend:
  
  • The Bird Watching Answer Book. Another great book by my friend Laura Erickson. Another of her books, 101 Ways to Help Birds is one I always recommend.
  • 100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species. More than just an entertainer, Jeff Corwin is a biologist who tells accurate and engaging stories about the creatures we must save.
    
  • Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion: A Comprehensive Resource for Identifying North American Birds.
  • A subscription to Birder's World Magazine. I write the monthly column Since You Asked.
    

Other jazz:

• Shade-grown coffee. I can't state it any plainer than this: if you are buying inexpensive, grocery-store coffee you are contributing to the destruction of bird habitat and the decline of migratory songbirds. I am passionate about this issue, and maintain an entire web site about it called Coffee & Conservation. I recommend many sources of eco-friendly coffee there, but a quick and easy choice is Birds & Beans -- which sells only triple-certified coffee (Bird-Friendly and organic, and either Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance). Make it your New Year's resolution to learn more about this important issue and stop buying cheap coffee.
• People often ask me how to keep House Sparrows off their feeders. I recommend an inexpensive upside-down feeder like this one. Before you install the perches, snip about a half-inch off of each one. Goldfinches are able to hang on, House Sparrows or larger birds can't.
• I have to admit, I love my Kindle Wireless Reader. One small device capable of holding thousands of books, magazines, and documents. No more buying a book to read once, then trying to find it a new home. Also a great conversation starter in public!
  

Should you wish to contribute less to consumer spending and instead to bird research, your gift to RRBO supports our work and spreads good cheer to the birds throughout the year.