Why Is IMBD Celebrated?
Public awareness and concern are
crucial components of migratory bird
conservation. Citizens who are
enthusiastic about birds, informed about
threats, and empowered to become
involved in addressing those threats, can
make a tremendous contribution to
maintaining healthy bird populations.
One of the most successful vehicles for
public education on migratory birds is
International Migratory Bird Day
(IMBD).
Where Is IMBD Celebrated?
Agencies and organizations with direct
contact with visitors take the lead in
hosting IMBD celebrations. Most IMBD
celebrations are held in places set aside for
wildlife, such as parks, refuges, and other
places where wild birds can be seen
firsthand, for example:
• National Wildlife Refuges
• National Forest Ranger Districts
• National Conservation Areas
• National Parks, Seashores, and
Monuments
• Military bases and reservations
• Corps of Engineers lakes and projects
• State parks and wildlife management
areas
• County and city parks and nature centers
• Audubon centers and sanctuaries
• Preserves of The Nature Conservancy
and local land trusts
Celebrating International
Migratory Bird Day
International
Migratory Bird
Day (IMBD),
held annually
on the second
Saturday in
May, is an
invitation to
celebrate and
support
migratory bird
conservation.
IMBD Information
web - http://birds.fws.gov/imbd
phone - 703/358-2318
IMBD Materials
web - http://www.BirdDay.org
phone - 1-866/334-3330
March 2005
IMBD celebrations are also a perfect fit
for indoor classrooms or urban settings.
Teachers, interpreters, tourism boards,
and shopowners celebrate IMBD in
order to share bird and conservation
information with their audiences.
How Many People Celebrate IMBD? The IMBD Events Registry captures and
displays information on public celebrations. Visit http://www.birdday.org and
navigate to Events & Festivals. This registry is voluntary, thus the true number
of public events is unknown. However, based on personal correspondence,
professional judgment and materials sales, public events number at least 500, and
two to three hundred thousand people engage in IMBD activities or are reached
through media.
How is IMBD Celebrated?
Over its ten-plus years, IMBD has
inspired celebrants to develop a wide
variety of activities to raise appreciation
and concern for birds. These activities
are generally created for the general
public, especially families, but also target
local birders and other advocates who can
serve as citizen scientists, and local
decision-makers who can be instrumental
to site protection.
• Bird walks
• Bird Counts
• Talks and presentations
• Workshops on bird ID, photography,
natural history
• Poster, poetry, photo contests
• Live musical and theatrical perfor-mances
• Arts and crafts
• Kids games
• Displays and booths
• Tastings of shade-coffee
• Fun runs and fund-raisers
• Cleanups and other habitat projects
• Sales of native plants or shade-coffee
IMBD is also an ideal date for dedicating
a new sanctuary or visitor center,
culminating a habitat restoration
project, or announcing a new program,
because it puts these events into the
context of an international celebration.
Conservation-minded individuals and
organizations also reach out with IMBD
messages to audiences in their homes,
classrooms, and neighborhoods, by:
• Creating radio and TV public service
announcements
• Writing articles for newspapers and
magazines
• Offering displays and exhibits in
shopping malls and libraries
• Presenting talks and slide shows to
municipal and citizen groups
• Underwriting special mailings to
members
• Sharing their interests and knowledge
with Scout groups, students,
congregation members, friends and
family.
IMBD belongs to all who celebrate it,
from the Chamber of Commerce
organizing a huge festival to the
individuals that take their grandchildren
out birding.
Party Supplies
IIMBD comes with a suite of products
developed for its celebration. The
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
produced the first IMBD materials in
1993; IMBD materials and coordination
are now the responsibility of the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The program has progressed to a point
where an expanding catalog of products
is offered each year. From the catalog,
celebrants can obtain promotional and
educational products which include
posters and t-shirts (portraying artwork
from a well-known wildlife artist),
conservation-related activity guides and
booklets, music, banners, and more.
Downloadable materials, such as a press
kit and additional teaching activities, are
also available.
Each year, the IMBD program focuses
on a particular conservation theme, and
associated materials are designed not
only to raise awareness about
conservation issues, but to empower
people to contribute to their resolutions.
The materials and messages created for
IMBD are useful year-round. In fact,
IMBD posters are distributed at bird
walks and talks year-round. IMBD-related
educational materials, including
the new Junior Birder packets have been
integrated by scouting programs. Wild
bird shops and garden centers rely on
IMBD items to host special events or
displays. Prompting annual festivals
and activities will always be the core
purpose of IMBD, but encouraging year-round
awareness and education is the
sought-after outcome.
The IMBD 2005 annual theme is Collisions: Clear the Way for Birds.
IMBD materials and celebrants will focus on the human-created, often
fatal obstacles birds may encounter in flight -- including communication
towers, vehicles, power lines, glass windows, and wind turbines -- and
explore the many ways that agencies, industries, and citizens may
minimize the impacts these obstacles have on bird populations.
