Category Archives: Birding hobbies

Birder License Plates

Many winters ago in Texas I met a Canadian birder who had an interesting side hobby: she collected birding vanity license plates. So for a while, one of the things I did as I traveled the country was to keep an eye open for vanity license plates and snap a photo of each one. I tried to get a little info on the owner but sometimes the vehicle was unoccupied. It did led to some interesting stories and some interesting people.

However, the project slid as I started to do less traveling — until a couple of weeks ago. In the midst of the Covid-19 homestay I got an email from a Michigan birder who is an avid collector of license plate images. He suggested that we trade a few of his for a few of mine. Thus, another initiative gets underway for this period of waiting. I arranged my images into a gallery and hope to start up my collecting again this summer. Here is the image Don sent me to pique my interest.

photo courtesy of Don Chalfant

Here’s what Don told me about the plate — “My own SCREECH is quite popular, as it raises questions from non-birders. One man from Maine asked me about it, and asked if I was from Newfoundland. I asked why he might think so, and he responded that screech is the name of a local moonshine made in Newfoundland! Certainly not what I had intended.”

I’m going to put up Don’s images in a gallery soon. In the meantime, do you have an interesting plate or know someone who does?  Why not take your phone a grab a photo of it and send it to me:  vtbirder at gmail.com.