Saddleback Mountain Wins Inaugural Bird Safe Award

Saddleback Mountain Recognized by Maine Audubon – Inaugural BirdSafe Maine Award for Mid-Mountain Restaurant Project

(Rangeley, Maine – May 30, 2024) – BirdSafe Maine—a partnership between Maine Audubon, the University of Southern Maine, and the Portland Society for Architecture—honors companies, schools, and individuals working to protect birds from window strikes. As many as 988 million birds die each year in the United States after accidentally colliding with glass windows, but some Mainers are doing something about it. BirdSafe Maine has been working for four years to raise awareness of the bird strike problem and its solutions.

Saddleback is home to the rare Bicknell’s Thrush, a small bird that inhabits dense alpine forests at high elevations. In constructing the new mid-mountain restaurant, The Nest, Saddleback worked closely with Maine Audubon and Davies Toews Architecture to design innovative bird deflection screens. You can see the vertical line screens in the photo below, running from top to bottom of the western-facing windows.

In order to recognize companies, educators, designers and architects, and other individuals who have taken bird-safe action, BirdSafe Maine is announcing the winners of its inaugural Bird Safe Awards. Recipients were announced in the summer issue of Maine Audubon’s Habitat magazine and will be awarded custom-made window decals this summer.

The 2024 Bird Safe Award winners are:

Awards for Corporate Excellence

There are no laws requiring companies to build or retrofit their buildings to make them safe for birds, but some Maine companies have taken it upon themselves to invest in bird safety. We’re especially grateful for these trailblazing companies.

L.L. Bean
The company installed thousands of square feet of bird-safe decals at its new headquarters in Freeport.

MEMIC
The MEMIC building was once among the most dangerous on our Portland survey route, but the company installed window decals and was able to reduce strikes by more than 80%.

Saddleback Mountain
BirdSafe Maine worked closely with Saddleback to design innovative, removable screens for its new mid-mountain restaurant, The Nest.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science
Employees initiated an effort to treat glass windows at the Lab’s headquarters in East Boothbay.

Awards for Educational Excellence

Maine schools and universities can help educate students about bird strikes and work to treat windows on campus.

University of New England / Dr. Noah Perlut
Dr. Perlut and his students helped encourage the University of New England to invest in bird-safe glass for the new Ripich Commons building in 2018.

Yarmouth Elementary School
Faculty at Yarmouth Elementary School have been running a BirdSafe curriculum for two years, and students wrote letters to school administrators asking them to take action on school windows, culminating in a bank of bird-safe curtains being installed in early 2024.

Awards for Excellence in the Design Community

Several representatives from Maine’s architecture and design community have played lead roles in adapting to the new and rapidly-evolving field of bird-safe architecture. 

Austin Smith / Simons Architects

Julia Tate / Simons Architects

Ed Parker / Alisberg Parker Architect LLC

Jonathan Toews / Davies Toews Architecture

Catherine Culley / Redfern Properties

Danielle Foisy / Juniper Design + Build

Tim Lock / GOLogic

Champion for Bird Safe Policy

Rep. Sophia Warren
Representative Warren of Scarborough sponsored LD 670, An Act to Protect Birds in the Construction, Renovation and Maintenance of Public Buildings.

Award for Residential Excellence

Derek and Jeannette Lovitch
The owners of Freeport Wild Bird Supply worked with Matt Maiello of Simons Architects to design and build “Maine’s first bird-safe residential building” in Durham.

Bluebird Award for Bird Safe Achievement

Addy Smith-Reiman
Addy co-founded BirdSafe Maine during her tenure as Executive Director of the Portland Society for Architecture. Her dedication to the cause and connections in the architecture and design community were invaluable to the success of the program.

BirdSafe Maine is grateful to all the winners and thanks them for their work on behalf of birds in Maine.

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About Saddleback Mountain: Located in the beautiful High Peaks and lakes district of western Maine, Saddleback Mountain was founded in 1960 and has grown its reputation for exceptional snow, some of the best terrain in the East, and a friendly, laid-back culture. At 4,120 feet of elevation and2,000 feet of vertical, and 600+ acres, Saddleback is Maine’s third-largest mountain and the largest independently owned ski resort in the East. In 2020, Saddleback was purchased as a fund managed by Massachusetts-based Arctaris Impact Investors, a leader in opportunity-zone investments.

About Maine Audubon: Since 1843, Maine Audubon has worked to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people in education, conservation, and action. The oldest and largest Maine-based conservation organization, Maine Audubon has eight public centers and sanctuaries across the state, seven chapters, and 30,000 members, volunteers, and supporters, and connects with more than 250,000 people annually.

For more information about Maine Audubon and BirdSafe Maine:

Nick Lund, Advocacy & Outreach Manager
Maine Audubon
nlund@maineaudubon.org
www.maineaudubon.org
207.650.9739