Demise of Bird Watchers Digest
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Jim Nelson
Jan 19, 2022, 11:36:00 AM1/19/22
to MDbirding
I haven't seen any mention of this on the listserv. While not about
Maryland birding specifically, I wanted to pass along the sad news that
Bird Watcher’s Digest (and its associated birding optics and gear
company, Redstart Birding) in Marietta, Ohio, after over four decades of
publication, shut its doors last month and ceased publication. Many
years ago, birders of a certain age, like me, long before email,
internet news, listservs, and eBird, found BWD to be a wonderful source
of information about birds and birding. I have always looked forward to
reading the bimonthly publication.
I learned of BWD's demise from an article in the Birding Community
E-Bulletin, compiled by Wayne Petersen and Paul Baicich. The following
is a direct quote from their article:
"It was a long process summarized on its website homepage: “Although we
have fought hard to continue to provide the best content, events, tours
and products to our beloved birding community, the devastating effects
of the pandemic on our business have made it impossible for us to continue.”
You can find the full statement here:
https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/
The ongoing pandemic seems to be the proverbial last straw in a series
of setbacks and tragedies. William Thompson Jr. and his wife, Elsa, had
launched the magazine in 1978, and it was later handed over to their
son, Bill Thompson III.
Cancer claimed the life of Bill in March 2019. He was 57, and the loss
was covered in our April 2019 E-bulletin:
https://conta.cc/3sYNZjk
Two months later, Elsa, the family matriarch, died in a house fire, and
almost a year later, Bill’s brother, Andy Thompson, died of a heart attack.
In the words of Wendy Clark, who assumed the reins of the magazine after
the passing of Bill, “It sounds like a story you’d watch on TV. We lost
three of the Thompsons in fourteen months, and then the pandemic hit.
It’s been extremely challenging.”
The loss of destination advertising, the increase in printing and
mailing costs, and difficulties with the optics part of the business
were all ongoing problems. The decision to close the magazine was
ultimately made on 22 December by the board of directors, and the last
day at BWD was Christmas Eve. The last print edition of the digest was
the already-mailed January/February 2022 edition.
BWD Editor, Dawn Hewitt added, “In a way, we’ve known that print media
has been struggling globally…With the pandemic, advertising dropped off
and we hoped it would come back, but it hasn’t… I think we all knew it
was inevitable…We tried to uphold the legacy of the Thompsons, and we
did for more than two years after the death of [Bill Thompson III]. We
worked our tails off to maintain a quality publication and I think we
accomplished that.”
She said that the content for the BWD March/April issue had already been
created, and it is currently available online, appearing with blank
spaces where ads would have normally appeared. “There were such good
stories, and we put a lot of effort into the issue,” Hewitt said. “We
didn’t want to let the work go to waste.”
You can find it here:
https://birdwatchersdigest.net/issues/bwd/2022-march-april.pdf
And to read more about the closing of BWD, see the local coverage from
The Marietta Times:
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/local-news/2021/12/birds-watchers-digest-closes-doors/
"
Jim Nelson, Bethesda, MD
Maryland birding specifically, I wanted to pass along the sad news that
Bird Watcher’s Digest (and its associated birding optics and gear
company, Redstart Birding) in Marietta, Ohio, after over four decades of
publication, shut its doors last month and ceased publication. Many
years ago, birders of a certain age, like me, long before email,
internet news, listservs, and eBird, found BWD to be a wonderful source
of information about birds and birding. I have always looked forward to
reading the bimonthly publication.
I learned of BWD's demise from an article in the Birding Community
E-Bulletin, compiled by Wayne Petersen and Paul Baicich. The following
is a direct quote from their article:
"It was a long process summarized on its website homepage: “Although we
have fought hard to continue to provide the best content, events, tours
and products to our beloved birding community, the devastating effects
of the pandemic on our business have made it impossible for us to continue.”
You can find the full statement here:
https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/
The ongoing pandemic seems to be the proverbial last straw in a series
of setbacks and tragedies. William Thompson Jr. and his wife, Elsa, had
launched the magazine in 1978, and it was later handed over to their
son, Bill Thompson III.
Cancer claimed the life of Bill in March 2019. He was 57, and the loss
was covered in our April 2019 E-bulletin:
https://conta.cc/3sYNZjk
Two months later, Elsa, the family matriarch, died in a house fire, and
almost a year later, Bill’s brother, Andy Thompson, died of a heart attack.
In the words of Wendy Clark, who assumed the reins of the magazine after
the passing of Bill, “It sounds like a story you’d watch on TV. We lost
three of the Thompsons in fourteen months, and then the pandemic hit.
It’s been extremely challenging.”
The loss of destination advertising, the increase in printing and
mailing costs, and difficulties with the optics part of the business
were all ongoing problems. The decision to close the magazine was
ultimately made on 22 December by the board of directors, and the last
day at BWD was Christmas Eve. The last print edition of the digest was
the already-mailed January/February 2022 edition.
BWD Editor, Dawn Hewitt added, “In a way, we’ve known that print media
has been struggling globally…With the pandemic, advertising dropped off
and we hoped it would come back, but it hasn’t… I think we all knew it
was inevitable…We tried to uphold the legacy of the Thompsons, and we
did for more than two years after the death of [Bill Thompson III]. We
worked our tails off to maintain a quality publication and I think we
accomplished that.”
She said that the content for the BWD March/April issue had already been
created, and it is currently available online, appearing with blank
spaces where ads would have normally appeared. “There were such good
stories, and we put a lot of effort into the issue,” Hewitt said. “We
didn’t want to let the work go to waste.”
You can find it here:
https://birdwatchersdigest.net/issues/bwd/2022-march-april.pdf
And to read more about the closing of BWD, see the local coverage from
The Marietta Times:
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/local-news/2021/12/birds-watchers-digest-closes-doors/
"
Jim Nelson, Bethesda, MD
Marcia Watson
Jan 19, 2022, 12:13:40 PM1/19/22
to Jim Nelson, MDbirding
Jim,
I agree that the demise of BWD is a loss to us. Over the years, the magazine had a number of regular columnists who came from our area, including Paul Baicich himself, Howard Youth, and the late Rick Blom. Rick once told me that he systematically worked with Bill Thompson to keep BWD out of the “my feathered friends” genre.
I think that my favorite part of BWD was the series of paintings that they commissioned for the cover art. With few exceptions, those paintings were knockouts and of very high standards. I always enjoyed reading the artist’s comments on what inspired the painting. In an era when other publications used much more easily obtained photographs for cover images, BWD stuck to their distinctive tradition of using original paintings, at least up until the end. The image of a Townsend’s Solitaire on the cover of what has turned out to be the last print issue, from January-February 2022, is actually a montage of two photographs manipulated to appear like a painting. In hindsight, that change in tradition looks like a portent of the end of the magazine.
Marcia
------------
Marcia Watson
Bowie, MD
> On Jan 19, 2022, at 11:36 AM, 'Jim Nelson' via Maryland & DC Birding <mdbi...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> I haven't seen any mention of this on the listserv. While not about Maryland birding specifically, I wanted to pass along the sad news that Bird Watcher’s Digest (and its associated birding optics and gear company, Redstart Birding) in Marietta, Ohio, after over four decades of publication, shut its doors last month and ceased publication. Many years ago, birders of a certain age, like me, long before email, internet news, listservs, and eBird, found BWD to be a wonderful source of information about birds and birding. I have always looked forward to reading the bimonthly publication.
> --
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I agree that the demise of BWD is a loss to us. Over the years, the magazine had a number of regular columnists who came from our area, including Paul Baicich himself, Howard Youth, and the late Rick Blom. Rick once told me that he systematically worked with Bill Thompson to keep BWD out of the “my feathered friends” genre.
I think that my favorite part of BWD was the series of paintings that they commissioned for the cover art. With few exceptions, those paintings were knockouts and of very high standards. I always enjoyed reading the artist’s comments on what inspired the painting. In an era when other publications used much more easily obtained photographs for cover images, BWD stuck to their distinctive tradition of using original paintings, at least up until the end. The image of a Townsend’s Solitaire on the cover of what has turned out to be the last print issue, from January-February 2022, is actually a montage of two photographs manipulated to appear like a painting. In hindsight, that change in tradition looks like a portent of the end of the magazine.
Marcia
------------
Marcia Watson
Bowie, MD
> On Jan 19, 2022, at 11:36 AM, 'Jim Nelson' via Maryland & DC Birding <mdbi...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> I haven't seen any mention of this on the listserv. While not about Maryland birding specifically, I wanted to pass along the sad news that Bird Watcher’s Digest (and its associated birding optics and gear company, Redstart Birding) in Marietta, Ohio, after over four decades of publication, shut its doors last month and ceased publication. Many years ago, birders of a certain age, like me, long before email, internet news, listservs, and eBird, found BWD to be a wonderful source of information about birds and birding. I have always looked forward to reading the bimonthly publication.
> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'. To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
> Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html
> --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/0144c6cd-be8e-0573-0941-9af856a8a05e%40verizon.net.
Carol Sottili
Jan 19, 2022, 12:14:13 PM1/19/22
to Jim Nelson, MDbirding
For those who may want to read an emotional and informative missive about Bird Watcher’s Digest and its demise:
On Jan 19, 2022, at 11:36 AM, 'Jim Nelson' via Maryland & DC Birding <mdbi...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
I haven't seen any mention of this on the listserv. While not about Maryland birding specifically, I wanted to pass along the sad news that Bird Watcher’s Digest (and its associated birding optics and gear company, Redstart Birding) in Marietta, Ohio, after over four decades of publication, shut its doors last month and ceased publication. Many years ago, birders of a certain age, like me, long before email, internet news, listservs, and eBird, found BWD to be a wonderful source of information about birds and birding. I have always looked forward to reading the bimonthly publication.
Carol Daugherty
Jan 19, 2022, 2:51:24 PM1/19/22
to Jim Nelson, MDbirding
Hi Jim -
Yes, this was very depressing news. I would meet and bird with all the BWD crew at the New River Birding Festival in West VA every year (until COVID!), and the year after Bill died was very sad for all of us. He was such a friendly and funny guy - and a great birder - and he is sorely missed . . .
The magazine sent out an email to subscribers to let us know they were shutting down - but I hope the regulars will still show up again at the festival (which is supposed to happen this year, fingers crossed).
Carol
Carol Daugherty
Jan 20, 2022, 3:49:40 PM1/20/22
to Jim Nelson, MDbirding
I was mistaken - no email, I learned about it on Facebook.
Carol
On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 11:36 AM 'Jim Nelson' via Maryland & DC Birding <mdbi...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Rick Borchelt
Jan 20, 2022, 4:27:54 PM1/20/22
to Carol Daugherty, Jim Nelson, MDbirding
I think most of the folks who got emails were those of us who have been contributors or have/had pieces pending.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/CAEvU0eG%2BCWHXQ_-WY894Z8hnp-owfvsojP_M8sdiz9PujJy6hQ%40mail.gmail.com.
Rick Borchelt
College Park, MD
preferred personal email: rborchelt |AT| gmail |DOT| com
http://leplog.wordpress.com
College Park, MD
preferred personal email: rborchelt |AT| gmail |DOT| com
http://leplog.wordpress.com
Strobel, Warren
Jan 22, 2022, 12:17:02 PM1/22/22
to Rick Borchelt, Carol Daugherty, Jim Nelson, MDbirding
So sad to hear of this. I learned so much reading BWD, and enjoyed its regular columns and contributors. Had the pleasure of meeting BT3 at a birding festival in North Dakota some years ago.
What a loss to our birding community.
Warren Strobel
Edgewater, MD
Warren P. Strobel
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To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/CAN0Du2uA2YYE%2B23%2BH5R2SP6OPYkYz4XxhPtaB54FR4xWFOCS7Q%40mail.gmail.com.
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