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Zoo Bird Group Master List from 1945

One of our staff members recently came across this bird list from 1945. Can anyone provide us with some information about this? It most likely belonged to one of her grandparents, a resident of the Bronx in 1945. Do you think it referred to New York resident and/or migrants visible from the Bronx Zoo? Was there a group that met at the zoo and birded from there? Can you spot the birds whose names have been revised since then?

Here’s a scan of the pages (a click will show each larger, or you can download the PDF) and the text is below.

Zoo Bird Group Master List for 1945 Spring Migration (page 1) Zoo Bird Group Master List for 1945 Spring Migration (page 2)

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Fishing for … Bird Stories

From fly fishing to casting a hooked worm off a dock, there are many ways to catch a fish. While you have waited for that tug on the line, have you been an audience of one to the great sky-dance of ospreys overhead or the gentle nudging of Canada Geese as they guide their goslings along the riverbank to detour past the rapids?

If you have a Vermont-based, real-life, birding-while-fishing tale to tell, I would love to hear from you. I intend to include a variety of stories in an article I am writing for a local publication.

Anyone interested in sharing is encouraged t0 e-mail or phone the Birds of Vermont Museum during this month of December with contact information. I will follow up to schedule a time to speak with you. Thanks so much!!

Allison Gergely, Museum Educator
(802) 434-2167

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Naturally Curious Naturally, the audienc

Naturally Curious

Naturally, the audience for Mary Holland’s presentation at the Birds of Vermont Museum on August 4, 2012, came brimming with curiosity, eager to embark on the seasonal journey related in her slideshow and lively narration. As an environmental educator and life-long naturalist, Mary Holland has encountered and studied all manner of Vermont animals and vegetation in her backyard spaces and wild places.

Mary is an accomplished nature photographer who offers her audience a vivid collection of images which showcase the beauty and challenges of survival throughout the re-activation of life in March to the lingering dormancy in a late winter February. We were treated to photos showing skunk cabbage (which produces heat energy and CO 2 through sugar combustion) able to emerge through a mantle of snow, the mud tubes of Organ Pipe Mud Daubers who encase paralyzed spiders within as food for their wasp larvae, and bear cubs briefly extricated from their winter den for field research data collection. Along with the talk and slideshow, Mary came with a curious collection of items: pelts and skeletons made up a portion of the displays, but the unexpected things were really unexpected: a black bear’s fecal plug (yes, they really do hold it during hibernation), a reclaimed and “winterized” bird’s nest suitable for a warmth-seeking deer mouse (utilizing its milkweed seed cache), and a shadow box with flat bones from a variety of mammalian penises (yes, someone later made the connection to a certain phrase…). I doubt you’ll see these at your local nature center!

Mary Holland’s work and passion enriched our understanding of the mechanisms and behaviors which enable living things to adapt to New England’s annual cycles of change. Her book, Naturally Curious, is available for sale in the Birds of Vermont Museum gift shop. Take a peek and let your curiosity run wild! For more information about Mary Holland or to schedule a program see http://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com/

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