Through the Window: July 2025

The head of a robin is barely visible above the rim of a mud-and-grasses nest built on an electrical or phone system box on the exterior of a building.
The head of a robin is barely visible above the rim of a mud-and-grasses nest built on an electrical or phone system box. (Photo by K. Talmage, July 2025. Grainy because taken by a zoomed-in cell phone.)

Goodness it’s been hot. What did you have out for birds in your backyard to beat the heat? We have multiple types of cover (shade and safety) and water as well. These robins used the roof of one our sheds as their shade.

July Bird List

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Through the Window: June 2025

Juvenile American Robin looks at viewer: a scruffy songbird with a dark head, charcoal-white-rust speckled breast and belly, and a few tufts of down fluffing out behind its head. One dark eye is visible.
This young American Robin had left the nest, but was still looking around for its parents to bring it food. (They did). Photo by Brady Lasher © 2025 and shown with permission.

We had some great Early Bird Walks this month—you can visit our checklists at eBird to see what we observed not from the window (link below).

By the end of the month, it felt like things are settling down : a robin is incubating or raising a second brood near our back door; adult cardinals are feeding young. Who next will bring their babies around? Chickadees? Blue Jays? Hummingbirds? Watch for fluttering wings and listen for unusual squeakings.

June Bird List

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July 2025 events

Grandfather and grandchild exploring for butterflies

Well, we have a “happenin’ summer!”

Arts events are the big focus in July, with a concert, a workshop, and a reception. If you need something a bit more detailed, try the Butterfly and Big Walk. If you want quiet reflection, there’s another Forest Sit. Need to stomp some feet? Drop by the Blues for Breakfast concert at the Huntington Rec Field.

Scroll on down and find out more!

=== JULY EVENTS ===

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June 2025 events

A green June Vermont landscape showing a tree branch at the top, shading the viewer, then a meadow of ferns in the fore- and midground, with forest in the background, and a forested hill beyond that. Photo by Erin Talmage for the Birds of Vermont Museum, and used with permission.

Welcome to our late spring and early summer events! We’ll walk and bird, sit in the forest, explore art, and maybe even try whittling and wood carving.

The trails are open from sunrise to sunset, every day—we recommend using the south trails (Spear, Discovery, Story) rather than Gale’s, Pop’s, or Bob’s, thanks to flooding last July. Trail maps and more information are available on our website, and are posted at the museum and at trail kiosks as well.

=== JUNE EVENTS ===

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Birds and Myth | 2025 community art show

Art by Cat McKeen: Democracy Phoenix Egg, rising from ashes - 24" left to right, 12" frnt to back, 12" tall. It's flatter in back so it can sit against a wall. It is made of scavenged sticks, branches, grasses, Papermache egg, embossed paper outer shell, base is recycled trophy base and 1800's barnboard. I've used an old metal wreath ring to help stabilize the branches. Acrylic paint, paper strips with words attached to inside of egg shell. Hand-painted parrot feathers, glue, Sage & Cinnamon added as Phoenix nest were supposed to have been made with fragrant wood.

Birds and Myth: meanings, metaphors, and guides

Thief by Elizabeth Mazzilli. Hooked wool on linen: blue background; black, red, and white raven; red and white sun. The raven holds the sun in its beak.
“Thief” by Elizabeth Mazzilli. Hooked wool on linen.

Birds from myth may be symbols, guides, teachers, and/or part of an artist’s cultural and ecological background. For the annual art show, the Birds of Vermont Museum asked creatives to bring such birds into their work. The resulting show explores old legends, represents individual belief, examines misconceptions, and offers new guides. Birds and Myth immerses us in histories, hopes, and imagination.

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