Somerset

The 2018 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 online at the IFW Online Store or now available at Maine Audubon’s Nature Store at Gilsland Farm.

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.

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.

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. 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.