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MARIETTA -- "Bird Watcher's Digest" that took flight 43 years ago in Marietta has closed effective immediately.
"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," a statement posted to the magazine's website said.
The statement said people will be contacted in the coming weeks with more information.
"Please keep birding, please keep supporting birds and nature, and most of all, please know how much you mean to all of us at Bird Watcher's Digest," the statement said.
The pandemic was the last straw after a series of tragedies affected the digest.
William Thompson Jr. and his wife, Elsa, founded the magazine and for many years it was headed by their son, Bill Thompson III.
Wendy Clark, president and publisher, took over the reins of the magazine after the March 2019 death of Bill Thompson of cancer. Two months later, Elsa died in a house fire on Warren Street in Marietta.
Almost exactly a year later, Elsa's son, former Ohio Rep. Andy Thompson, died of a heart attack.
"It sounds like a story you'd watch on TV," Clark said. "We lost three of the Thompsons in 14 months and then the pandemic hit. It's been extremely challenging."
She said the decision to close the magazine was made Dec. 22 by the board of directors. The last day was Dec. 24.
The last print edition of the digest is the January/February 2022 edition mailed this month.
Several factors were in the decision, Clark said. Among those was a tour part of the business that was hit hard by the pandemic along with the loss of advertising.
The sale of optics such as binoculars was impacted during the pandemic, she said. Printing costs also continued to rise, Clark said.
"The past couple of years have brought us to this place," she said.
The magazine employed three part-time and nine full-time staff members. The offices on Acme Street were sold in June and space was rented in town for those not remotely working.
"Everything changed when COVID hit," Clark said.
Clark said her immediate plans are to see the closure through, as well as honoring the nearly 18,000 subscribers and followers. As she also lost her job, Clark said she, too, is looking for employment.
"We worked hard to keep it going as long as we could," she said.
The company that printed the magazine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, so publishing organizations are all getting hit hard, Clark said.
"There have been other lean years, and it's been a tough, but right, decision," Clark said.
Digest Editor Dawn Hewitt said it was a shock and she is heartbroken about the closure.
"In a way, we've known that print media has been struggling globally," she said. "With the pandemic, advertising dropped off and we hoped it would come back and it hasn't."
With the increasing prices of printing and postage, "the cost was killing us," Hewitt said.
"I think we all knew it was inevitable, but we didn't know it would be now," she said. "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."
Content for the March/April issue has been created, but the plans are to post it online and odds are it will be for subscribers only, Hewitt said.
"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."
She said in the digital edition, there would be holes where ads normally would be, but details for a possible March/April issue have not been set.
Also, Hewitt is uncertain whether the website birdwatchersdigest.com will remain.
"It was such an honor and privilege to work on this wonderful magazine," Hewitt said. "We all hated that this had to happen, but I think it was inevitable."
Hewitt gave Clark a lot of credit for dealing with recent challenges.
"She had to make some difficult decisions just to keep us operating," Hewitt said. "She did the best she could, but there was no other decision to make, when you come down to it."
Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com.