As we all scurry around to find wonderful gifts for our families and friends this holiday season, we hope that you will also find some time to give back to the birds that fill our lives with joy year-round. Here are five suggestions we have for gifts you can give to the birds.

Count Birds

It may be hard to believe that getting outside to see birds and count them would be a gift for birds rather than just a pleasure for ourselves. But the reality is that we need to monitor how bird populations are faring so that we can ensure that we don’t let any more species become extinct. That monitoring is an opportunity for all of us to help, whether by signing up to participate in a Christmas Bird Count, the Maine Bird Atlas, Climate Watch, the Great Backyard Bird Count, or by submitting your bird sightings to eBird.

Support Conservation Organizations

Nonprofit organizations are constantly working hard to protect habitat, lower risks to birds and their environment, and ensure that threats are identified and addressed. Donating money to organizations focused on the protecting the environment is a great way to help birds. Whether it is a local group like the Boothbay Region Land Trust, a state-level one like the Natural Resources Council of Maine, or an international organization like the National Audubon Society, find your favorites and support them with your financial gifts.

Make Your Voice Heard

Take a moment to weigh in on an issue that impacts birds at a town meeting or through a letter to the editor. Support efforts to restore healthy fish (and the birds that eat them) populations in the Kennebec River through dam removal. Sign a petition in support of protecting a place like the Seal River Watershed in the Boreal Forest, breeding grounds for birds that spend the winter here in Maine. Commit yourself to actions like these that help birds have safe and healthy places to live and reproduce.

Spark Someone’s Interest in Birds

You can encourage someone’s interest in birds in many ways. Talk about birds with your neighbors. Teach someone how to identify the birds in your backyard, garden, or park. Donate some bird books and binoculars to your local school. Lead a bird walk. Share your bird photos. Chances are, your new bird enthusiast will also want to get involved in efforts to protect birds.

Make a Bird-friendly Yard

The cold days of winter are the perfect time to begin planning for how, in the spring, you will add to your yard and garden more native trees, shrubs, and flowers that birds. Start thinking about areas of your property where you may not need to mow. Banish pesticides from your property this summer. Even now, in winter, you can make a difference by leaving dead trees and limbs that woodpeckers can excavate for cavities and in which they and other species can find the food they need to survive the frigid Maine winter nights.

These are just five suggestions for how you can give a gift to help the birds we all love. Whether you take one of our recommendations or come up with a creative idea yourself, we hope that this may inspire you to give a gift for the birds this holiday season.

Jeffrey V. Wells, Ph.D., is a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Vice President of Boreal Conservation for National Audubon. Dr. Wells is one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists and author of the “Birder’s Conservation Handbook.” His grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a nonprofit membership organization working statewide to protect the nature of Maine. Both are widely published natural history writers and are the authors of the popular books, “Maine’s Favorite Birds” (Tilbury House) and “Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A Site and Field Guide,” (Cornell University Press).