Category: Observed at the Museum

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Identify the bird: Rusty Blackbird? Common Grackle?

possible a Rusty Blackbird (but not in fall plumage?) or Common Grackle (but that tail is too short)
Possibly a Rusty Blackbird (but not in fall plumage?) or Common Grackle (but that tail is too short?)

Can you help with this bird? It has features of a Rusty Blackbird and of a Common Grackle according to our research in Sibley’s and the National Geographic field guides, and our experienced birders Bob Spear and Gale Lawrence.

The photos were taken on a rainy day (October 29) through our viewing window, so they are a bit low-light and there are occasional water drops.

You can click on the images in the slideshow below to see five different pictures (including a bigger version of the one to the left).

[slideshow]
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Through the Window: October Birds at the Feeders

If you’ve been to see us, you know that we record these birds on a whiteboard by the viewing window. The handwriting on the board is varied, as staff, volunteers, and even visitors will jot down the common name of birds they see. This month, against the final changes in foliage, we noted:

Brown Creeper, carved by Robert N. Spear, Jr.
Brown Creeper, wood carving by Robert N. Spear, Jr.
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Blue Jay
  • Evening Grosbeak
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • American Goldfinch
  • White-crowned sparrow
  • Cooper’s Hawk
  • Purple Finch (male)
  • American Crow
  • Mourning Dove
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • White-throated Sparrow
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • Brown Creeper
  • Fox Sparrow
  • Ruffed Grouse
  • Song Sparrow
  • Rusty Blackbirds (unless they were Common Grackles?)
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Letter to Young Artists

Guest post by Lori Hinrichsen, Artist, Photographer, and Judge of the 2010 Art Contest

When I walked into the Museum the other day I was thrilled to be surrounded by so much creativity, imagery, and enthusiasm of all the artwork entries. From abstract to representational, from humor, composition, color and form, to a range of creative interpretation, the Birds of Vermont Museum Art contest was a delight for the eyes.

I want to congratulate all of you who participated in the event and I genuinely wish I could have given each of you a ribbon for all your wonderful entries. I would like to encourage you to keep making art and sharing it with others. I would like to extend gratitude to your teachers, parents, neighbors, friends and family for keeping the arts alive, every day.

Wishing you a warm lingering autumn. Vermont is a very special place in all seasons.

Lori Hinrichson

• Lori’s Website • Photographs •

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the Big Sit! 2010 Results

On Sunday,  October 10, the Museum hosted the Loonatics and their Big Sit! circle.  Thanks to Jim O. for coordinating the event and to all the volunteers who joined in. It was a beautiful day, and several people contributed excellent food to keep us warm.

We identified 27 species. The time sheet:

Time Common Name
0626 White-throated Sparrow
0633 Mourning Dove
0633 Northern Cardinal
0634 Dark-eyed Junco
0646 American Crow
0648 Blue Jay
0648 American Goldfinch
0650 Black-capped Chickadee
0656 White-breasted Nuthatch
0659 Red-breated Nuthatch
0703 Hairy Woodpecker
0709 Downy Woodpecker
0712 Common Raven
0721 Evening Grosbeak
0740 Tufted Titmouse
0759 American Robin
0832 Yellow-rumped Warbler
0836 Canada Goose
0920 Blue-headed Vireo
1104 Turkey Vulture
1154 Purple Finch
1307 Sharp-shinned Hawk (Female)
1348 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1359 Northern Harrier
1413 Red-tailed Hawk
1416 Cooper’s Hawk
1748 Barred Owl
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Through the Window: September Feeder Birds

Against the shifting foliage, we’ve seen many birds (some the last of the year, as they migrate southwards).  Nearby, we also observed a mammal of some note!

Birds:

  • Blue Jay
  • Grackle
  • Hairy Woodpecker
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • Ruby-throated Hummingbird (last male on 9/7/2010; last female on 9/14/2010)
  • Purple Finch
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch
  • White-breasted Nuthatch
  • American Goldfinch
  • Mourning Dove
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Rose-breasted Grosbeak (still here 9/11/2010)
  • Northern Cardinal
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • White-throated Sparrow (9/17/2010, 9/29/2010)
  • Easter Phoebe
  • Pileated Woodpecker — swooping over and museum
  • Song Sparrow
  • Bluebird (9/28, 11:30 a.m.)

Mammal:

  • Bobcat sighted by a cyclist on 9/20/2010 at 1:33 p.m., just north of museum parking lot on Sherman Hollow Road

And something you can’t actually see from the window, but must get up and walk to:

Autumn Flowers at the Birds of Vermont Museum
Autumn Flowers at the Birds of Vermont Museum. Photo taken in September 2005 in the field between the road and the pond.
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Feeding hummingbirds in fall

I received a call today from a woman wondering what to do about hummingbirds. Two juvenile birds still come to her feeder, but she hasn’t seen the parents in some time. Should she take in the feeder? Is the food she provides keeping those young birds from migrating? Will they migrate without the parents? Are the parents still around, just not coming to her feeder?

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Female (woodcarving)
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Female (carved by Bob Spear)

I asked Bob Spear, since he’s got considerably more experience as a naturalist than I do–decades more.

“Leave it up,” he says. In fact, our hummingbird feeders are still up at the Museum and we saw a female ruby-throated hummingbird on Tuesday the 14th of September.  He tells us the males head south earlier than females and young ones, and he suspects that the female parent of the two juveniles is still nearby. Furthermore, migrating individuals from further north may stop at feeders on their way south (and in this week’s chilly rain, every bit helps). “It’s a myth,” he says, “that our feeders will keep them from migrating when it’s time for them to go.”

So enjoy your last glimpses of these little birds, glinting against the autumn leaves.

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Garden Blog #4 Guest Post by Nic Cormier 8/3/10

Planting continues in the new garden, and around the Museum. The Irises have been planted in the small bed beneath the welcome bulletin board along the path that leads to the Museum. We also obtained some Coreopsis (Tickseed) plants, planted at the entrance to the keyhole pathway, and Garden Phlox which I planted near the Cosmos and Penstemon. The new Red Bee Balm had been getting munched by the local woodchuck so Allison and I dug a small trench around the flowers and drove wooden stakes in along the trench. We then buried the bottom of the chicken wire in the trench and used carpenter staples to secure it to the stakes. This seems to be holding up fine for now but the next step would be to acquire some large rocks to place around the fence to prevent the woodchuck from being able to dig at all. Brian Valentine will be donating more Red Bee Balm to replace that which the woodchuck ate.

Erin found me an old bird house in Bob’s workshop a couple of weeks ago to use in the garden. So far all I’ve had time to do is to sand it down and clean it up a bit. The idea is to make it not only look nice but to make it sound enough to have soil and plants on its roof. To do this I will cut some pieces of wood to make a border around the roof about two or three inches high that will hold soil. In this border I will cut holes near the base so all excess water will drain out. Once that is all set we will erect it in the garden with squirrel shields and put the soil on it and plant some small plants like Thyme in the soil.

Right now there isn’t a whole lot else going on. The Cosmos are still flowering along with the Thistle, Marigolds, Garden Phlox, Pink Penstemon, Blue Lobelia, Dwarf Solomon’s Seal, Pink Turtlehead, Purple Coneflower and Dianthus (in the more shaded and weedy spots).

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7/17/10 Garden Journal #3

Guest Post by Nic Cormier, Education Intern

Last week we got a responses to our post that we had put on the Front Porch Forum asking if anyone had any flowers or plant donations for our gardens. Ms. Janet Labelle, who lives just down the road from the museum, invited us to her home to see if there were any plants she had that we wanted. By the end of the visit, she had kindly donated Pink Penstemon, Wild Columbine, Hazelnut/Filbert crosses, and Bee Balm. That same day Mr. Bill Mayville donated some red and purple Bee Balm and planted them himself. This week Bill also brought us old slabs of rock, which had been a foundation to a house, for our rock paths and keyhole garden. Erin’s neighbors, the Zimmerman’s, recently cut down and chipped a few old trees in their yard. They said we can go anytime and take as much as we need for mulch, which we have been using steadily for the past few days. Thanks to all for the donations.

We still have a bucket of Irises brought to us by Rick that have yet to be planted. A few Trumpet Vines need a trellis before they can be planted near the viewing window, and a couple of Stonecrops that will be going in near the rock wall in the feeding yard. We are currently working on creating a keyhole garden with a stone walk-way for a fun element to the garden as well as a walk-way to a compost pile and another to the sewage pipe, both of which will be rock pathways. In the center of the keyhole we plan to erect either a bird bath that we make or a bird house with a roof that holds soil and can be planted with a short flowering plant.

Some plants that are still on the wish-list are Spicebush, Coreopsis, Turtlehead, Cardinal Flower, Winterberry Holly and Butterfly Bush, but we would also take almost anything that is donated.

On rainy days I have been working on the signage and guide that will be used. It is exciting seeing the whole project come together from thoughts to paper to reality.

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A beginner’s notes from the Annual Butterfly Walk

post by Kir Talmage, Museum Program Coordinator

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
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
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
Young Entomologist on the VES Annual Butterfly Walk
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7/3/10 Garden Journal #2

Guest post by Nic Cormier, Education Intern

Until last week the garden bordering the lawn had not been worked in almost five years. A few previously planted perennials managed to keep a foothold among the abundant “weeds”.  Additional native flowers, sometimes considered weeds, were also uncovered. We plan to open it back up and bring some order to the garden once more. The goal is to make a garden that attracts birds and butterflies, using primarily native plants. We want this to be an educational tool for visitors as well, who will see what we have done/are doing and hopefully feel inspired and empowered to do something similar in their backyard.

Last week we took some time and cleaned out plants that we didn’t want in a ten foot by five foot section. We left the plants we liked and knew were beneficial to wildlife. Interspersed within these we planted Marigolds, Astilbe, Bleeding Heart, Foxglove, Snapdragons, Cosmos, Dwarf Spirea, Salvia spp. and Black-eyed Susan. We also released a Coneflower, Black-eyed Susan, Sweet William, Mystery Plant (see picture) and Hemp Nettle. The plants that we put in (minus the Black-eyed Susan) were all donated from Pleasant Mount Farm. (Thank you Heidi!)

We also drew up plans for future gardens, and now we are looking for some plants that may be donated or sold at discount.  (The Museum is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, for contact info see www.birdsofvermont.org)

Here is a list of what were looking for:

Chokeberry- Aronia ssp.

Spicebush- Lindera benzoin

Columbine- Aquilegia ssp.

Butterfly Bush- Buddleia ssp.

Swamp Milkweed- Asclepias incarnata

Turtlehead- Chelone glabra

Fireweed- Epilobium angustifolium

Cardinal Flower- Lobelia cardinalis

Bee Balm – Monarda ssp.

We would greatly appreciate any and all donations and/or inquiries into places where we could get them. As stated before we are trying to make the garden as native as we can but we will not say no to non-native species, unless they are invasive.

Below is our mystery plant. Do you know what it is?

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