Museum Open for Great Backyard Bird Count

black-capped chickadee eyes black oil birdseed in the platform feeder in fall-winter

Visit us February 14th, 2026,  to see what birds we’re counting for the Great Backyard Bird Count!

  • Learn to ID birds — what do we look or listen for?
  • Go birding with a friend — twice the fun!
  • Find out more about and record observations for this great community science project.

We’re open from 10-4 on Saturday for the GBBC
Members admission: Free!

About the GBBC:

Friday – Monday,  February 13-16, 2026 • All Over the World

From the Great Backyard Bird Count website:

Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time.

Since then, more than 100,000 people of all ages and walks of life have joined the four-day count each February to create an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds.

For more info visit Great Backyard Bird Count website

The Great Backyard Bird Count

A golden-crowned Kinglet in profile perches on a small branch, looking upward to the right. White lettering over the image says : How Many Birds Can You Find? 29th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count February 13-16, 2026 birdcount.org Golden-crowned Kinglet / Regulus satrapa Photo: Ashle Pichon / MAcaulay Library

Friday – Monday, February 13-16, 2026 • All Over the World

Whether you are with a friend or on your own, watching one bird or counting hundreds, join a worldwide community-science and conservation project! All you have to do is observe for 15 minutes and submit your observation(s). Here are few details from https://www.birdcount.org/participate/ :

Step 1 – Decide where you will watch birds. [Suggestion: at the Museum on Saturday!]

Step 2 – Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 13-16, 2026.

Step 3 – Count all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

For more info visit https://www.birdcount.org/

Through the Window: September 2025

Unidentified hawk overhead against a brilliantly blue sky. Photo copyright Erin Talmage and used by permission.
Unidentified hawk overhead against a brilliantly blue sky. Photo copyright Erin Talmage and used by permission.

Warm and dry pretty much the whole month. Pleasant for sitting around, and can make some nice updrafts. Did you go hawk watching?

Every now and then this year, a warbler comes to the feeder—not to eat, apparently, just to check things out from that perch. And (presumably less often) we notice!

September Bird List

Continue reading “Through the Window: September 2025”

the Big Sit! 2025

A Stanley brand 25' metal measuring tape; a pair of black binoculars; a bag of Birds and Beans coffee (scarlet tanager dark roast). All three item are line d up on a wooden railing, with green foliage behind them.

The most relaxed birding around. And around and around …

How many birds (and birdwatchers) can we identify from a 17-foot diameter circle between sunrise and sunset? Can we beat last year’s record? We’ve seen birds big and small, in night and day: from Kinglets to Great Blue Herons, Barred Owls to Turkey Vultures.

This is a great long-running community science project. Pledges and donations welcome:

We are observing from Dawn to Dusk. The Museum is open from 10am – 4pm.

Call or email to ask about joining the observation team.

For much more info, see https://www.thebigsit.org/ .

Check out the reports from previous years: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 (overall), 2021 (ours), 2022 (overall), 2022 (ours), 2023 (overall), 2023 (ours)

several birders standing during a Big Sit event