Painting Party at the museum

A volunteer preps for painting, Spring 2010.
A volunteer preps for painting, Spring 2010. This year should be somewhat lower down!

Join our Painting Party on March 5th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Help us paint part of the museum. Lunch will be provided.

Please let us know you’re coming so we can feed you! Call us at 802 434-2167 or email us at museum@ birdsofvermont. org. You can find driving directions to the museum on our website, at http:// birdsofvermont.org/ map.php

Free.
Appropriate for teen and adult volunteers–we thank you!

Come to the Fall Festival, Saturday October 9

Come to our Fall Festival Saturday, October 9, 2010Enjoy our Fall Festival with Woodcarvers — Live birds — Used Books/Garage Sale — Nature Journal Workshop — Insect Info — Birds!

Woodcarvers will be demonstrating their art in the workshop.
Carol Winfield returns with live birds at 11:00.
Find something wonderful at our Used Books/Garage Sale.
Heather Fitzgerald offers a Nature Journal Workshop.
Rhonda Mace from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture will answer questions about Invasive Insects.
Kids activities and games, nature walks.

Celebrate a great year!
Free!
Fun for Everyone!

The Peeps of the Museum: First (Annual?) Community Art Show

First (Annual?) Community Art Show: the Peeps of the MuseumThe First (and possibly Annual) Community Art Show is open! Members, Volunteers, Interns and Staff display their artworks at the museum. Drop by and admire our local talent.

The show is open with the Museum: Daily 10 am – 4 pm until October 31st.

If you are a member or volunteer and would like to display a piece, please give us a ring (802 434-2167) or an email (museum@birdsofvermont.org). We still have some space.

A Meditation on a Child and Birding

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.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male), carved by Robert Spear, Jr.

Louisiana Waterthrush sighted

Louisiana Waterthrush, 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.

More info:

Early Morning Bird Walkshttp://birdsofvermont.org/events.php
Lousiana Waterthrush: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Louisiana_Waterthrush/id