
The birds seem to be weathering the weather a bit better than some. It was a nice month for both usual and less-frequent species.

where natural history meets art

The birds seem to be weathering the weather a bit better than some. It was a nice month for both usual and less-frequent species.
Looking for a new way of noticing? Come visit art, try hand work, listen to music, or look for birds. August is a great month for you and a friend to stretch or swap points of view.
The Museum is open Wednesday – Sunday, 10 am – 4 pm (but we are closed July 4th). The trails are open sunrise to sunset, every day. Libraries have passes, and admission is always free for members (https://birdsofvermont.org/membership/).
We hope you and yours are safe from the recent flooding due to Hurricane Beryl. For those who have experienced loss, our hearts go out to you. Our Treehouse, Bird Blind, and benches in the “garden” offer places to rest and find respite.
The museum and its grounds are resilient. The good news is that the museum building, the entrance bridge, culvert area, and step-pools in the tributary to Sherman Hollow Brook are undamaged and intact. The Treehouse, picnic areas, pond, Story trail, and the Bird Blind all are fine. Come and walk or sit whenever you need to.
This is not the first time we’ve had to deal with flood damage. We thank everyone who was part of the Bridges to Birds reconstruction in 2013-2015 for their amazing generosity and superb work: volunteers, donors, John Scott Excavating, Dean Grover Engineering, Timber and Stone LLC, and Anne Dannenberg. They created the entrance bridge, the rain garden, the step-pools in the tributary to Sherman Hollow Creek, and the pollinator plantings that protect the slopes. All of that handled the heavy flows of water as intended, demonstrating how a resilient design can cope with a changing climate.
Other parts of our property were not so fortunate. Continue reading “Flooding, thanks to Hurricane Beryl”

This is a strangely short list. We did limit feeding until late in the month due to nearby bear sightings. And I know we were more likely outside when looking at and for birds in June. (I mean, how can you resist June? Except for that weirdly horribly hot week.) Of course, it’s also possible the birds were very busy elsewhere. Because June!
The Birds of Vermont Museum has been hosting themed community art shows since 2014. Each winter, the staff develops a bird-related theme for the exhibit and invites submissions in varied media: visual arts, the written word, sculpture and more.
Our 2024 art show, The Power of Perspective: shifting points of view, poses and answers questions of how our bodies, ideas, and assumptions might alter or affect what we perceive, think about, imagine, and understand about birds.
Continue reading “The Power of Perspective | 2024 community art show”
On beyond birds! Birds are not alone on the world, so take some time to explore other creatures of beauty, purpose, and oddity. Come to a butterfly (and other bugs) walk with the Vermont Entomological Society. Meet artists at the Power of Perspective reception. And of course, end the month with the bird monitoring walk.
The Museum is open Wednesday – Sunday, 10 am – 4 pm (but we are closed July 4th). The trails are open sunrise to sunset, every day. Libraries have passes, and admission is always free for members (https://birdsofvermont.org/membership/).
Guest post from the Green Mountain Wood Carvers. Cross-posted from their July / August Newsletter
The Birds of Vermont Museum hosted the Green Mountain Wood Carvers’ May Carve-In. Once again, the day stated out a very nice spring day. Erin had the room all set up for us as the 9 carvers began to arrive. It was very good to see some of our newer members join us for a day of carving. Continue reading “May Carve-In Report”

We had a surprise visitor one day in May! This little fellow confused the Black-capped Chickadee by pulling fibers from a hanging plant basket that the chickadees often use (for the same purpose).
Many thanks to our intern Hans for the photo. Read on for a really incredible bird list this month!
Welcome to summer events at the Birds of Vermont Museum! It’s all about birds, birds, and more birds this month. Come inside for art (and more birds), too!
The Museum is open Wednesday – Sunday, 10 am – 4 pm. The trails are open sunrise to sunset, every day. Libraries have passes, and admission is always free for members (https://birdsofvermont.org/membership/).
Well, it’s true that some of these we didn’t see when looking out the window! It’s a loose unofficial record! We might have observed these birds while walking into or around the building, or heard them from the front door. Or, in the case of Wood Frogs*, heard through the windows and sometimes, possibly, through the wall.