Tag: community

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Art Content 2010 Winners

You saw the rules. You saw the preview. You saw last year’s results and the Letter to Young Artists. Now, finally, you can find out Who won in 2010?

Wall of collages and patterned flying birds
Art Contest Entries

Our 2010 wining artists are:

Age 0-5: Melody B, Lily K, Kenny F, Anna P, Olivia O
Ages 6-8: Noah B, Cooper H, Jake B, Petra B, Celeste B
Ages 9-13: Lena H, Anna-Sophie S, Lexi P, Amanda G, Kate O
Ages 14-18: Christina H, Lindsay F, Hannah G

And some special categories:

Sculpture (3-D): Shannon H, Allison G, Alexander U, Hannah D, Melissa A
Collage (First Graders): Kameron C, Mary M, Cater F, Ian M
Flying Patterned Birds: Will P, Nicholas M, Caroline S, Caleb R, Carter S, Myiah D
3-Dimensional Flying Foil Birds: Makenna T, Isaac D, Jackson E, Shannon H, Amy L, Kyle D

We had a few “Specials” (these are at the Judge’s discretion and change from year to year):

Georgia W for “Best Kestrel”;  Clementine for “Cutest Penguin”; Lily for “best Mallard”; Leola A for “Cutest Couple”; Kenny for “Best Cardinal”; Aziana H for “Best Happy Owl”, and David A for “Best Woodpecker”

Art on the walls: so much art!
So much art! We nearly covered our viewing window area walls.

For more images, check out our album at Facebook. Feel free to leave comments here or there.

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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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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!

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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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Ice Cream Social and Half-Birthday Celebration on Sunday, August 22

Join us for an old-fashioned ice cream social to celebrate Bob Spear, the Museum’s founder and Master Woodcarver, and another glorious year! We’re hosting this event at the Museum on Sunday, August 22, 2010. We’ll serve ice cream and cake at 1:00 or so, right after Bob blows out the candles. Visit all the new carvings from the past year. Eat good food. Spend some time with old and new birders, carvers, and other friends. Great fun for everyone. Free with museum admission – and of course all current members get in for free. Just show us your card! (Not yet a member? Become one on Sunday—just in time.) If you let us know you’re coming, we’ll be sure to have enough ice cream. Looking forward to seeing you!

Join us for an old-fashioned ice cream social to celebrate Bob Spear, the Museum’s founder and Master Woodcarver, and another glorious year!

We’re hosting this event at the Museum on Sunday, August 22, 2010. We’ll serve ice cream and cake at 1:00 or so, right after Bob blows out the candles.

While here, visit all the new carvings from the past year. Eat good food. Spend some time with old and new birders, carvers, and other friends. Great fun for everyone.

Free with museum admission – and of course all current members get in for free. Just show us your card! (Not yet a member? Become one on Sunday—just in time.) If you let us know you’re coming, we’ll be sure to have enough ice cream. Looking forward to seeing you!

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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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Not the eagle you might have expected

Bob and about 40 friends and members of the Museum celebrated his upcoming 90th birthday with a boat cruise on Lake Champlain. It was wonderful, and many said to me afterwards that this would be a fun thing to do annually.

Our carload arrived really early and we were involved with a rescue operation. Someone saw an eagle land in the water and flap around unable to fly away. The skipper and 4 of us went out looking for this bird, and we searched and searched. We had a net and 4 blankets for the rescue. All we found was a large juvenile gull sitting on a huge dead fish floating on the surface, and he flew off when we came near and then returned as we left. So much for eagles in distress! We had a good laugh.

—from a letter by Ingrid Riga, Curator,  to a sponsor of several of the carving exhibits

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