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Updated: 1 hour ago

Bye bye, chickadee: Maine to roll out new license plates

Two Maine license plates Images / Bureau of Motor Vehicles Starting this May, two new designs will replace the chickadee license plate in Maine.
By Tina Fischer

Starting May 1, the iconic chickadee license plate will be retired by the Maine Bureau of Mother Vehicles and replaced with two new designs. One features a pine tree and the North Star, and the other has a plain white background with no imagery.

Vehicle owners will be required to adopt a new plate.

License plate numbers are also being replaced, but can be retained for a $25 fee.

The chickadee plate has been in circulation for over 25 years, and in 2023, the law was amended requiring the BMV to issue replacements to all plates bearing the state bird.

Vehicle owners will receive a new plate and a new number at no cost, when they renew their registrations during the period from May 1 through April 2026. The pine tree design will replace all standard issue license plate classes, while the “no tree” plate will be a choice available only to passenger car (PC) class plates.

"The chickadee plates are in rough shape given their age, so we’re excited to roll out the first new standard license plate design in over 25 years,” said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. 

“The new pine tree license plate is a symbol of Maine’s natural beauty and our heritage as the Pine Tree State,” said Cathie Curtis, deputy secretary for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Drivers who would like to keep their current license plate number can do so through the BMV’s website or in-person at a branch office. The $25 fee applies regardless of where the reservation is filed. 

Those with vanity, low-digit or out-of-rotation Chickadee license plates must reserve their current plate number if they wish to maintain it, and the $25 fee applies, according to the state BMV.

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