I started paying closer attention to license plates on cars at birding hotspots and at events that attracted birders, like the New Jersey Audubon Society annual convention in Cape May, or whenever a reported rarity would draw in eager birders trying to see it. The rarer the bird, the more plates I'd find and they'd often be from more distant places. The Ross's Gull that was discovered in Baltimore, MD, was a good example of this, and I collected many plates there - it helped compensate for missing the gull.
National Audubon published some of my photos in the March 1988 issue of Audubon magazine, with the title "A License to Bird." I wish I'd have thought of that title! Its such a good title, in fact, that another birding magazine stole the title and concept for a feature article a few years later (with no reference to my spread from 1988).
When I moved from NJ to AZ in
1994 I was hoping to find many more plates from the western
states, but it has been harder to find them here because
there aren't as many birders.
There are 200 (plus or minus) plates in this collection
Some of these show the same characters from the same state,
but the plate has changed color or design: think of these
as "alternate plumage." A few plates are repeated in two
galleries; I started setting them up before I had all the
images together so some were put in early galleies before
they should have been. I've placed them a second time to
group them as appropriate. I'll eventually get this
straightened out and drop the duplicates, but I'm too tired
to do that now.
Birders have shown a lot of imagination in picking a plate,
so there's lots of variety in species. There's also some
clever abbreviations employed to fit long names into 6-8
characters. It also helps to be familiar with the
scientific binomials for species (STRIX V above translates
to Strix Varia or Barred Owl), or to know that Magnificent
Hummingbird used to be called Rivoli's
Hummingbird. A couple plates use a word in a language other
than English.
Please note that all plates have been photographed under
actual field conditions: they show real world life, highway
dirt and weather, varying light, and often cramped shooting
conditions in tight parking lots. In many cases they were
taken in a great hurry since the priority was seeing the
rare bird that attracted the birders (and me) in the first
place. A few have been donated by friends who know about my
collection. So, image quality varies: in all cases it is
the content that overrides quality.
Yes, I have a vanity plate as well, and it is included in
one of these galleries. Here it is on the front of my
Toyota.
Once things have stabilized (nd duplicates are purged) I
will try to add an index that shows what plate is in which
gallery. Until I do that you might want to revisit
galleries to see if there have been any changes.