where natural history meets art
It’s a quiet week in – oh, wait. Right. We went walking! Also not-walking. Both activities let us record birds.
Thank you, Executive Director Erin Talmage, for leading this month’s walk. Happy New Year! Continue reading “Species List: December 2016 Bird Monitoring”
The birds fall into late-autumn routines; the skies get cloudy and light in the early mornings drifts in mist and dreams. OK, and one of the museum bloggers gets either poetic or purple-proseish. Better switch up to our November bird notes, eh?
“And the leaves /come tumbling down” — well, ok, a misquote, but nice for this time of year. We have turned our autumn corner, from “open daily” to “open by appointment” — although our bird feeding continues daily also!
In October, we noticed these birds, fluttering, swooping, perching, or interacting with each other. Bold are those not recorded last month.
The year comes turning, turning… the daylight shifts, as we roll toward the equinox and away. Birds shifting southward bring changes to our sightings. A few “winter” birds are popping up!
For more precise records, you can also see eBird data for recent years at the Museum.
Plenty of squirrels again: Red Squirrels, Gray Squirrels, and Eastern Chipmunks.
All observers can add their sightings to our whiteboard list! We’re here from 10am to 4pm daily, and earlier if there’s a bird walk. For those, check out our events page. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too, for more comments, links, and observations!
The “Through the Window” series is an informal record of observations made by staff, volunteers, and visitors. Anyone at the Museum may add to this list. Observations are usually through our viewing window: a large window with a film covering that helps hide watchers from the birds. We have chairs and binoculars to try, a white board, and many identification guides. Outdoors, several feeders are attached on a single, bear-resistant pole. A small pond, flowers and water plants, shrubs and trees add cover and (seasonally) other food choices . You can sometimes see what we see via our webcam.
Carve a Bittern! One-day woodcarving class Sept 17.
Blanks + paint provided. Sign up soon! 
http://ow.ly/Win4303i2Wi http://ow.ly/i/ma5kA
We were blessed with some unusual observations this month—we suspect these species are usually here in August, but we’re not always in the right place to observe them. Gotta get outdoors! In the meantime, enjoy this month’s list of what we’ve seen through (or near) our Viewing Window.
No male hummingbirds on 8/31.
Bold indicates those we didn’t see last month.
For more precise records, you can also see eBird data for recent years at the Museum.
It’s always fun to distinguish the Clear-winged Sphinx Moth and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird as they both hover about the bee balm. And what a month for mammals! We’ve the usuals: Gray squirrels, Red squirrels, Eastern chipmunks.. ;.and we’ve also noticed Eastern cottontail rabbit, a bobcat, and a young porcupine! This last was spotted and photographed by some visitors on August 28 as it came across Bob’s Bridge and up the bath. (Bob’s Bridge is the lower bridge of the two near the Museum entrance; Gale’s Crossing is the new one.)
All observers can add their sightings to our whiteboard list! We’re here from 10am to 4pm daily, and earlier if there’s a bird walk. For those, check out our events page. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too, for more comments, links, and observations!
The “Through the Window” series is an informal record of observations made by staff, volunteers, and visitors. Anyone at the Museum may add to this list. Observations are usually through our viewing window: a large window with a film covering that helps hide watchers from the birds. We have chairs and binoculars to try, a white board, and many identification guides. Outdoors, several feeders are attached on a single, bear-resistant pole. A small pond, flowers and water plants, shrubs and trees add cover and (seasonally) other food choices . You can sometimes see what we see via our webcam.
Visit art and artists at “In Layers” Reception: Sept 10, 3-6pm.
(“51 Birds” © C V Talmage, used by permission)
It’s the glorious height of summer. Also, sometimes hot. We have birds at the feeders, and mammals on the ground, and more!
Bold indicates those we didn’t see last month (we are as perplexed about the chickadees as you are!).
For more precise records, you can also see eBird data for recent years at the Museum.
As always, other critters visited. The Hummingbird-mimic, the Clearwing Sphinx Moth, continues to enjoy Bee Balm (in bloom by July 3). We note again Red Squirrels, Gray Squirrels, and Eastern Chipmunks, as well as the Eastern Cottontail, and (on the night cam) Raccoons. We heard and saw Green frogs chuckling in the little pond that is sometimes also a bird bath (when it’s not too full of duck weed)..
All observers can add their sightings to our whiteboard list! We’re here from 10am to 4pm daily, and earlier if there’s a bird walk. For those, check out our events page. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too, for more comments, links, and observations!
The “Through the Window” series is an informal record of observations made by staff, volunteers, and visitors. Anyone at the Museum may add to this list. Observations are usually through our viewing window: a large window with a film covering that helps hide watchers from the birds. We have chairs and binoculars to try, a white board, and many identification guides. Outdoors, several feeders are attached on a single, bear-resistant pole. A small pond, flowers and water plants, shrubs and trees add cover and (seasonally) other food choices . You can sometimes see what we see via our webcam.
June is when almost everyone is busy with nests, eggs, and sometimes already fledglings. We get busy too.
Bold indicates those we didn’t see last month. The surprising gap here is the Black-capped chickadee; it is likely around but the those writing on the board happened to not see it.
For more precise records, you can also see eBird data for recent years at the Museum.
As always, other critters visited. The Hummingbird-mimic, the Clearwing Sphinx Moth, was spotted on June 7. We note again Red Squirrels, Gray Squirrels, and Eastern Chipmunks. The Woodchuck (a.k.a. Groundhog) is still around. Our night-time cam suggests we also have mice and young rabbits, but the image is too indistinct to be sure (the eyes glow and move in delightfully eerie ways, however). We did record a chewed head of a rabbit under a picnic table, so we can be sure of at least one predator species as well.
All observers can add their sightings to our whiteboard list! The viewing window is open daily May 1- October 31, except for the July 4th Holiday. Visit between 10am and 4pm. For extra happenings, check out our events page. You can see that we start with birds but don’t stop there! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too, for even more comments, links, and observations!
The “Through the Window” series is an informal record of observations made by staff, volunteers, and visitors. Anyone at the Museum may add to this list. Observations are usually through our viewing window: a large window with a film covering that helps hide watchers from the birds. We have chairs and binoculars to try, a white board, and many identification guides. Outdoors, several feeders are attached on a single, bear-resistant pole. A small pond, flowers and water plants, shrubs and trees add cover and (seasonally) other food choices . You can sometimes see what we see via our webcam.
Michelle Patenaude led the June 26th Early Birders Morning Walk as well. The walks this year have been so well-attended! It’s been wonderful to welcome birders, old and new, to the Museum.
Here’s the report:
Birds of Vermont Museum, Chittenden, Vermont, US Jun 26, 2016 7:05 AM - 9:25 AM Protocol: Traveling 2.0 kilometer(s) Comments: Early Birders Walk led by Michele Patenaude 34 species Mallard 1 Mourning Dove 2 Barred Owl 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 7 observed adult at nest with young in it Downy Woodpecker 2 Eastern Phoebe 2 Great Crested Flycatcher 2 Red-eyed Vireo 2 Blue Jay 5 Black-capped Chickadee 6 White-breasted Nuthatch 5 Winter Wren 1 Hermit Thrush 2 Wood Thrush 1 American Robin 2 Gray Catbird 1 Ovenbird 11 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 5 Blackburnian Warbler 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler 3 Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Pine Warbler 1 Black-throated Green Warbler 2 Dark-eyed Junco 1 White-throated Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 1 Scarlet Tanager 1 Northern Cardinal 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3 Red-winged Blackbird 2 Common Grackle 2 American Goldfinch 2 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30398032 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
Join usnext year, in May and June, for the next series of early morning walks. Bring binoculars and good walking shoes. Park at 900 Sherman Hollow Road, in the Museum parking lot. Of course, we hope to see you long before then! There’s so much more to see and do here at the Museum, after all.