It may not be prudent to wear a T-shirt in the middle of a Maine winter (outside, at least) but that has never stopped birders from giving and receiving various memorable and beautiful versions of the shirts as holiday gifts. We were musing recently about some of the many favorite bird-themed tees that have been our favorites over the years and, in the spirit of giving, thought we would share four of them and their stories with you.

Maine’s own Liberty Graphics is famous for their collection of natural history and artsy t-shirts still produced in an inconspicuous remodeled old farmhouse tucked away on a side street in Liberty, Maine. We had an unusual chance to tour the facility last year, and what these professionals do in the nooks and crannies of that place is truly amazing. It may not come as a huge surprise that one of our favorite bird T-shirts is a collage of brightly colored spring warblers painted by gifted artist David Sibley and produced by Liberty Graphics. We love to wear it when we are leading a field trip in the spring to look for warblers—it’s like wearing a field guide!

One of our T-shirts that seems to elicit the most comments from grocery store clerks, neighbors, and just random people we meet is our trogans of Veracruz shirt. The funny thing is that it was actually packed away for decades in a box until we rediscovered it again a few years ago. Although we can’t remember where it came from, it probably was something picked up while attending an ornithology conference in Veracruz, Mexico. We still have yet to see most of the trogons on that shirt, and the illustrations are gorgeous enough to inspire anybody to want to book a trip to look for these birds!

David Sibley’s work has made it into many of our favorite T-shirts, and one of the all-time favorites is his “Kickin’ Tail!” painting of 12 warbler tails that appeared in the 1995 version of the World Series of Birding T-shirt. We loved our years of participating in New Jersey Audubon’s famous World Series of Birding, so the special, unique T-shirts provided to participants each year bring back lots of memories. We suppose this T-shirt is a collectable now, and ours is getting a bit ragged because it’s been worn so much. This was another one that was fun to use as a portable field guide when leading birding walks, as it’s easy to point out some of the best features for identifying certain warblers—the colors and patterns in their tail feathers and rumps.

Another brightly colored T-shirt that brings back wonderful memories is one that we picked up many years ago in the visitor’s center at Washington-Slagbaai National Park on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. Regular readers of this column will know of our interest in this region that culminated in the publication last year of our book, “Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao: A Site & Field Guide.” This T-shirt integrates some of the particularly special birds, wildlife, and landscapes of Bonaire including yellow-shouldered parrots, American flamingos, troupials, and green iguanas. When sporting this shirt, it’s easy for us to feel transported back to the warm and sunny island, with its vibrant colors and fascinating birds and other wildlife and plants.

Will the holidays bring more bird T-shirts into your wardrobe? We hope so, and we hope that they become as well-loved as so many of ours.

Jeffrey V. Wells, Ph.D., is a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dr. Wells is one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists and author of the “Birder’s Conservation Handbook.” His grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a nonprofit membership organization working statewide to protect the nature of Maine. Both are widely published natural history writers and are the authors of the popular book, “Maine’s Favorite Birds” (Tilbury House) and the newly released “Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao” from Cornell University Press.