December 18, 2014 at 9:19 am
The 2015 Maine Birder Band is now available! Maine’s Birder band is instrumental in helping protect birds, conserve habitat and provide access for birders throughout the state. Get yours at the IFW Online Store
For just $20, you get an authentic bird band similar to ones that biologists use to band wild turkeys and Canada geese. The band is meant to fit on a camera or binocular strap and has a unique number registered in your name. If this item becomes lost, the finder can call the IFW number on the band and the item can be returned to the owner. Over the years, this band has returned several pairs of binoculars and a set of car keys.
And new this year, with the purchase of your birder band, you’ll receive some valuable added extras including a day pass to the Maine Wildlife Park (www.mainewildlifepark.com) in Gray, and a day pass to Swan Island (www.maine.gov/swanisland) in Richmond.
Birder bands make great gifts! If you are looking to purchase one for someone else, please contact us at (207) 287-8000, and we can take your order over the phone and ship it
direct to you, or direct to the recipient of the gift.
Many birders have purchased a birder band each year since its inception in 2009. New this year, you can purchase the entire set of bands, 2009-2014 for $50. If you missed a year, you can also purchase individual past years for just $10.
Your donation helps Maine’s non-game birds. While some game birds such as waterfowl receive dedicated federal funds, over 90% of Maine’s 292 bird species do not. The Maine Birder Band has already generated over $20,000 that goes directly to helping protect Maine’s non-game birds. Money raised by the birder band can be used to leverage additional federal funds.
Over the years the band has helped fund several conservation and educational projects, including the launch and maintenance of the Maine eBird Portal; grasshopper sparrows survey at Kennebunk Plains and the former Naval Air Station in Brunswick; research examining saltmarsh sparrow nesting success in sites with and without tidal restrictions and Southern Maine shorebird monitoring focused on sanderlings, red knots, black bellied plovers and ruddy turnstones.
Getting your Maine Birder Band is easy – Just visit the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at www.mefishwildlife.com