One of the things that so often amazes me whenever I talk with one of the estimated forty-seven million plus bird watchers practicing their favorite hobby throughout the United States is just how many of them have yet to subscribe to one of the many fine bird watching magazines published here. To my way of thinking, this is a bit like being a devoted sports fan but not reading the sports page.
Be they the most recent of novices or a veteran of decades of dedicated observation, all bird watchers can find something suitable to their levels of interest and experience in the pages of a bird watching magazine. As I took up the activity as an adult and with little immediate connection to an active bird watching community, the monthly (or bi-monthly as the case may be) arrival of any of my favorite bird watching publications in our post box was a red letter day indeed; for it was through the pages of these periodicals that I not only increased my knowledge but developed my connection to the larger bird watching community as a whole.
Yet as a blogger, isn’t is a bit ironic that I should be encouraging subscriptions to print-based media? Isn’t it a competitor to the world of blogs? I think the question is easily answered by asking yourself when was the last time you curled up in your favorite chair with a nice cup of tea, a warm lap throw, and a laptop? My eyes stare at a computer screen enough each day; to relax, I much prefer “old school” reading.
Of course, not ones to wait for the technology to leave them behind, each and every one of the major bird watching magazines in the U.S. has an associated website and blog – so both the hopeless print romantics like me and the ultra-techie types like many others I know can all find our respective preferences satisfied.
So consider giving a subscription to one of these fine publications to your favorite bird watcher this holiday season:
and for those in the U.K.
You’ll be fondly remembered with the arrival of each and every issue, and you’ll have done your part to help continue the great tradition of bird watching by helping another practitioner to improve their skills, enlarge their understanding, and connect more fully to the bird watching community throughout the land.
Peace and good bird watching.
