Everything you need for backyard bird-watching

1. Brome Squirrel Buster Standard ($43)

Bring the birds to your backyard with this best-selling squirrel-proof feeder. A squirrel's weight will lower a shroud, blocking access to the seeds. Brome offers several versions, including a finch feeder and one for suet. Buy it at Amazon.

2. Peterson Field Guide to Birds ($26)

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Roger Tory Peterson's field guide to the birds of North America deserves a spot on your windowsill. Range maps help simplify identification, and the "sharp and detailed" illustrations point to species' distinguishing features. Buy it at Amazon.

3. Nikon Prostaff 3S ($120)

High-end binoculars often cost more than $2,000, but you can find a great pair for less than $200. Nikon's lightweight 8x42 binoculars "blew reviewers away," offering unmatched clarity, brightness, and color rendition in this price range. They're also fog- and waterproof. Buy it at Amazon.

4. Field Notes Original Kraft Notebook ($10 for 3)

You'll want a logbook for recording bird sightings, and Field Notes' classic memo book offers "the best combination of paper quality, durability, style, and ruling options that will actually fit in your pocket," writes Kevin Purdy at The Wirecutter. Buy it at Amazon.

5. Swarovski Optik dG ($2,310)

To be free of binoculars, a field guide, and a camera, consider investing in this new high-tech monocular. It sends photos of the birds you spot to Cornell University's Merlin Bird ID app for automatic identification and logging. Buy it at Swarovski Optik.

Editor's note: Every week The Week's editors survey product reviews and articles in websites, newspapers, and magazines, to find cool and useful new items we think you'll like. We're now making it easier to purchase these selections through affiliate partnerships with certain retailers. The Week may get a share of the revenue from these purchases.