Just in time for the holidays, the 2014 Maine Birder Bands are now available! These make great gifts for the bird enthusiast on your list (or for yourself). The donation of $20 per band goes directly to bird conservation efforts in Maine. To get “banded”, see the IFW Online Store or call our Augusta office at 287-8000. For those unfamiliar with the program, please read below. THANK YOU for your support!
Funding is perpetually a concern of our Department, especially when it comes to work focused on non-game species that don’t generate revenue through hunting license or duck stamp sales. About ninety percent of Maine’s 292 bird species fall into this category. Six years ago, MDIFW launched the Maine Birder Band program through which individuals can donate to a fund dedicated to bird conservation in Maine. In exchange for a $20 donation, contributors get “banded” and receive a bird band with a unique identifying number that is registered with our Department. The bird band is the size of a band used to tag a Canada goose or wild turkey and is meant to fit onto a binocular or camera strap. If the band is lost, the finder can call IFW to reunite the band and the item to which it is attached to its rightful owner. To date nearly 1,000 bands have been sold to individuals in 27 states or provinces, generating approximately $20,000 that will go directly to bird conservation efforts in Maine, including research and monitoring. As a non-federal source of funding, the Maine Birder Band funds are in reality worth even more. They can be used as a match to federal funding sources, such as the USFWS State Wildlife Grants and leverage up to three times their worth.
Some of the projects that have been partially funded by Maine Birder Bands include:
· Launch and maintenance of the Maine eBird Portal (helped leverage an additional $2500)
· Grasshopper sparrows survey at Kennebunk Plains and the former Naval Air Station in Brunswick (helped leverage an additional $975)
· Research examining saltmarsh sparrow nesting success in sites with and without tidal restrictions (helped leverage an additional $11,550)
· Southern Maine shorebird monitoring focused on sanderlings, red knots, black bellied plovers and ruddy turnstones (helped leverage an additional $2500)
In addition to the lasting benefits the Maine Birder Band can provide to IFW’s bird conservation efforts, it has also helped a few individuals locate their lost binoculars and even a set of keys!
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Danielle E. D'Auria
Wildlife Biologist, Bird Group
Maine Dept. Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
650 State St., Bangor, ME 04401
Phone: (207) 941-4478; Cell: (207) 485-8386
Fax: (207) 941-4450
Email: danielle.dauria@maine.gov
Website: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/
Blog: http://maineheron.wordpress.com/
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