Boise State’s Intermountain Bird Observatory has gained lots of fans in the local community, including Zamzows Inc., the longtime Boise lawn, garden and pet store.
Zamzows organized a January fundraiser in which it pledged to give $1 for every bag of wild bird food sold to the IBO. On Friday, Feb. 8, Zamzow’s presented the observatory with a check for $2,300.
“The Intermountain Bird Observatory will use this donation to help us connect more students to our research programs, so that they can meet real scientists and learn about bird conservation in action,” said Heidi Carlisle, education and outreach director.
If you’d like to support similar efforts, the observatory welcomes donations for its annual bird banding projects. Hummingbird banding takes place each year in Idaho City. Songbird banding takes place at the observatory’s station near the Boise River. The IBO also runs the Lucky Peak banding station to monitor songbirds, hawks, and owls. The banding projects reach more than 2,000 people, and students from more than 20 schools each year, said Carlisle. The projects rely heavily, and in some cases entirely, on donations.
The Intermountain Bird Observatory (formerly Idaho Bird Observatory) is a nonprofit academic research and community outreach program of the university focused on impacting human lives and contributing to conservation through a combination of research, education, and community engagement.