Summary in plain English
We collect the minimum data we need to run the site, fulfill orders, and stay in touch with subscribers. We don't sell your data. We don't track you across the internet. We use a small handful of well-known services (Render, eBird, OpenStreetMap, an email provider) to operate. Below is the long version with the specifics.
1. Who we are
Fledge Labs is a small American company that designs and manufactures recycled-PETG birdhouses. We are based in the United States. Our primary contact email is hello@fledge-labs.com.
2. What we collect, and why
Visitors browsing the site
- Server logs — your IP address, browser user-agent, and which pages you visited. Standard for any website. We use this to debug errors and detect abuse. Logs are kept for 30 days.
- Theme preference — light or dark mode is stored in your browser's localStorage. Never leaves your device.
Visitors using the bird-search and Kit Finder tools
- Location text — when you type a city or zip into the search, we send it to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim for geocoding and to the eBird API (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) to fetch sightings near that location. We don't store the searches.
- Kit-finder responses — yard size, environment, features. Used only to compute your recommendation; not stored.
Visitors who submit the contact form
- Name, email, subject, message — used to reply to you. The message is forwarded to our private inbox via SMTP. We don't add you to a marketing list unless you separately opt in to the Drops list.
Visitors who subscribe to the Drops list
- Email address — stored with our email-service provider (Loops, Buttondown, or similar) so we can send you drop announcements. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email. Unsubscribing deletes your record.
Customers who purchase a kit
Once we open commercial sales, payments are processed by Stripe. We do not see or store your full credit-card number — Stripe handles that. We do receive your name, shipping address, email, and a Stripe customer reference. This information is used to fulfill the order and to comply with sales-tax obligations.
3. Cookies & analytics
We do not use behavioural-advertising cookies. We do not run Facebook Pixel, Google Ads tracking, or similar cross-site trackers. The only client-side state we set is your light/dark theme preference (stored in localStorage, not a cookie) and a short-lived submission token for the contact form. If we add a privacy-respecting analytics tool in the future (e.g. Plausible), we'll update this notice.
4. Third-party services we rely on
- Render — web hosting. Sees server logs.
- eBird (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — bird sighting data. Receives the latitude/longitude of your search.
- OpenStreetMap / Nominatim — converts location names to coordinates. Receives the text you typed.
- CARTO — map tiles for the species range maps. Receives map-tile requests from your browser.
- Stripe (when commerce launches) — payment processing.
- Loops or comparable email provider (when newsletter launches) — email delivery.
- Porkbun — domain registrar. Forwards emails sent to
@fledge-labs.comaddresses.
5. Your rights
You can email us any time at hello@fledge-labs.com to:
- Request a copy of any personal data we have about you
- Correct anything that's wrong
- Request deletion of your data (we'll comply unless we're required to retain it for tax / legal reasons)
- Unsubscribe from marketing emails
- Ask any other privacy question — we'll answer honestly
California residents have additional rights under the CCPA. EU/UK residents have rights under GDPR. We'll honor those requests no matter what jurisdiction you live in — the simplest framing is: it's your data; if you ask, we'll tell you, fix it, or delete it.
6. Children
Our site isn't directed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has submitted information to us, contact us and we'll delete it.
7. Changes to this policy
We'll update this page if anything material changes — new service added, new data collected, new business practice. The "last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. For substantive changes affecting subscribers, we'll send an email notice.
8. Contact
Privacy questions, data requests, or anything else: hello@fledge-labs.com.