Panama boasts nearly 1,000 different bird species and the largest intact tropical rainforest in Central America, but as a birding destination it still lacks the fame of its neighbor Costa Rica.
Please join us for a photographic tour of the incredible diversity of birdlife Panama has to offer—from the hummingbirds and toucans of the national forests along the Panama Canal to the tanagers and trogons of the coffee-growing region in the northwest to the macaws and manakins of the roadless south-eastern wilderness that is the Darien.
Presented by Professors Kimberly Sultze and Jon Hyde.
This lecture is oart of the Lucille Greenough Enrichment Series.
Doors open at 6:30p.m. for wine and cheese; slide lecture begins at 7:00p.m.
Join us for an old-fashioned ice cream social to celebrate Bob Spear, the Museum’s founder and Master Woodcarver, and another glorious year!
We’re hosting this event at the Museum on Sunday, August 22, 2010. We’ll serve ice cream and cake at 1:00 or so, right after Bob blows out the candles.
While here, visit all the new carvings from the past year. Eat good food. Spend some time with old and new birders, carvers, and other friends. Great fun for everyone.
Free with museum admission – and of course all current members get in for free. Just show us your card! (Not yet a member? Become one on Sunday—just in time.) If you let us know you’re coming, we’ll be sure to have enough ice cream. Looking forward to seeing you!
I’ve just come back from the Annual VES Butterfly Walk. Thank you so much to Bryan Pfeiffer, Trish Hanson and many others for sharing their knowledge! We had about 35 guests or so on the walk, ranging from young kids to grandparents, new explorers to professional (and retired) entomologists. I’m a new explorer, practically a rank beginner with bugs. I love it.
You’ll no doubt get much more by coming on a walk, going outside, and paging through field guides. I went out with my just my notebook and camera, though. So, from my notes:
Grandfather and grandchild exploring for butterflies on today's VES Butterfly Walk
About observing tools: Water nets and butterfly nets are not the same. A butterfly net (for field insects, etc.) is longer, cone-shaped, and of a very fine soft mesh. The longer shape (compared a vaguely trapezoidal water net) allows one to “flip” the net closed, so the insect won’t escape while you are examining it. That’s less of an issue with a water net; water beetles and dragonfly nymphs aren’t so likely to fly off.
About Butterflies: Lepidoptera — the order that contains butterflies — means “scale(d) wing”, for the thousands of tiny, often iridescent scales that cover the wings. We found a clouded sulphur female (Colias philodice). One way (of several) to tell this was a female was because she had spots in the dark margin of her upper wing.
Canada Darner (Aeshna canadensis) on child's hand. This one is an "old lady" -- about a month or so!
About Dragonflies and Damselflies: When identifying them, look at where the color is on which segments of the abdomen — look very closely! Also look at the profile of the claspers at the end of the abdomen. The different shapes (hook, c-clamp, straight, knobby, etc.) helped in identification.
About Daddy-long-legs: I had never noticed how the mouth parts fold so neatly, making such a even oval profile of their bodies. Lovely.
Here’s a cool online resource I just found too, for comparing multiple pictures of butterflies (and others): http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Butterflies What are your favorite online resources for Insects and Arachnids?
Young Entomologist on the VES Annual Butterfly Walk
Guest post from Dr. Stewart Kirkaldy, Museum Volunteer
Every once in a while one has an experience that is profoundly moving. This happened to me recently on International Migratory Bird Day at the Birds of Vermont Museum where I was working at the viewing window. A young couple came in with three children, the eldest of whom was a serious birder. She was 10 years old or less but had a “life list” of fifty-eight on arrival. Very soon she saw her first Hummingbird to which she responded with incredible vocal enthusiasm, jumping up and down and rushing across the room to give her father the news. (She added two new species to her list that afternoon.) Her interest and enthusiasm was evident all day. She was an inspiration and rejuvenated hope in my heart for the future of humanity.
The realization dawned on me that she is at one end of the spectrum of human activity and, sadly, too many are at the other end as exemplified by Big Oil Company Executives whose actions and indifference led to the recent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But what she left me with was the hope well expressed in a hymn that ends “… when man’s crude acts deface no more / the handiwork of God.”
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male), carved by Robert Spear, Jr.
Louisiana Waterthrush, carved by Robert Spear, Jr.
Guest post from Shirley Johnson, Board President, Birds of Vermont Museum, and today’s Guide on the Early Morning Bird Walk
We had good views of a Louisiana Waterthrush this morning during the weekly Sunday morning bird walk at the Birds of Vermont Museum. The bird was seen in the woods on the south side of Sherman Hollow Road, on the nature trails open to guests of the museum, on the hillside in the watershed area above the duckpond.
Shirley Johnson and Alison Wagner have been leading the Early Morning Birds Walks this spring. (Haven’t been on one yet? Come on Sundays at 7:00 a.m.; we will be doing these through June). They post the birds the group observes on a white board here at the museum, and report some of the highlights to us over coffee.
Last week, Alison lead a group despite the snowy weather. Yes, they were successful, observing some dozen or so species.
Blackburnian Warbler (carved by Bob Spear). One of the species identified on today's Early Morning Bird Walk.
Today, Shirley reported hearing two barred owls having a “party”, cackling and laughing back and forth to each other. She also said they’d heard a Louisiana Waterthrush, and compared the sounds of that species as recorded by the iFlyer and the Birding by Ear CDs.
The size of a track matters, but you don't always have a ruler.
On Saturday, February 27th, the Museum is hosting a Tracking Workshop from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. with Mike Kessler of UVM. Join us to find out what non-bird animals live in our backyard. Elements of nature observation will be covered. Please dress to be outside; snowshoes are encouraged if we get snow. Suggested donation: $5. Feel free to call with any questions. Appropriate for older kids and adults.
We are looking for volunteers to help us paint the walls downstairs in the Museum. We’ll be painting from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Lunch will follow, 12:00 – 1:00, so please let us know if you will be coming.
