history – Birds of Vermont Museum

January 15, 2026January 17, 2026

Call to Artists: Wings • Waters • Ways

Pale image of a carved and painted wooden female Labrador duck swimming and seen from below underlies brown cursive text that reads Wings-Waters-Ways: a call to artists.

Explore the interwoven history of humans, birds, and waterways with your art. Consider upcoming “250th” celebrations in the US, the much-longer history of humans on the landscape in the Green Mountains and Champlain Valley, and the much, much, much longer stories of how birds have evolved with, use, and been influenced by water and waterways. Ponder habitats, adaptations, and interactions.

The Birds of Vermont Museum invites art submissions that dive and soar with the ways of wings and waters for our 2026 community art show.
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May 24, 2025June 8, 2025

Birds and Myth | 2025 community art show

Art by Cat McKeen: Democracy Phoenix Egg, rising from ashes - 24" left to right, 12" frnt to back, 12" tall. It's flatter in back so it can sit against a wall. It is made of scavenged sticks, branches, grasses, Papermache egg, embossed paper outer shell, base is recycled trophy base and 1800's barnboard. I've used an old metal wreath ring to help stabilize the branches. Acrylic paint, paper strips with words attached to inside of egg shell. Hand-painted parrot feathers, glue, Sage & Cinnamon added as Phoenix nest were supposed to have been made with fragrant wood.

Birds and Myth: meanings, metaphors, and guides

Thief by Elizabeth Mazzilli. Hooked wool on linen: blue background; black, red, and white raven; red and white sun. The raven holds the sun in its beak. — *“Thief”* by Elizabeth Mazzilli. Hooked wool on linen.

Birds from myth may be symbols, guides, teachers, and/or part of an artist’s cultural and ecological background. For the annual art show, the Birds of Vermont Museum asked creatives to bring such birds into their work. The resulting show explores old legends, represents individual belief, examines misconceptions, and offers new guides. Birds and Myth immerses us in histories, hopes, and imagination.

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January 28, 2016

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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