Tag: spring birds

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Through the Window: March 2022

Fox Sparrow (woodcarving by Bob Spear)
Fox Sparrow, carved by Bob Spear.

March usually see us getting excited about what’s left to do before our drop-in season (May – October) and which migrants are passing by on their way further north (looking at you Fox Sparrow. Also mud. Sherman Hollow Road at the end of March this year was …. remarkable. Yet passable, unlike some other roads around the state. So we could keep feeding the birds.

By the way, Vermont Fish & Wildlife recommends taking in your bird feeders on April 1st, to avoid habituating bears to our spaces. Our feeders are 8′ off the ground on a steel pole set in concrete; it’s both bear resistant and not too much of a temptation. Bears learn quickly what’s out of reach and not worth the effort.

Birds at the Vernal Equinox (and then some)

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Through the Window: March 2021

White-breasted nuthatch in profile, upside-down but head lifted, on a half-empty suet cage.
White-breasted nuthatch on suet, March 2011, Birds of Vermont Museum. Photo taken through window.

We had rather a good number of visitors (by appointment) as we worked away on the behind-the-scenes things we do (preparing for opening in spring, if all goes well). One of our month’s highlights wasn’t birds at all, but lady beetles! You can read more about them here: https://birdsofvermont.org/2021/03/12/lady-beetles-in-vermont-j-pupko/

But back to birds… quite the exciting mix!

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Through the Window: June 2020

butterfly in June 2020, Huntington, Vermont Photo courtesy K. Talmage and used by permission)
Unidentified butterfly in June 2020, Huntington, Vermont. (Photo courtesy K. Talmage and used by permission)

June is unbelievably beautiful in Vermont. To add to our happiness, we have been able to open the Museum Wednesdays-Sundays, 10-4, which is so far working well.  To add to the beauty of late spring around us, we’ve got a new art show, all about borders and boundaries, edges and exchanges.

Stop by to wander our trails, tour the show, and enjoy the respite offered by super-relaxed birding. What could be easier than sitting at our viewing window (or in our bird blind, or best yet, in the walk-in treehouse) and watching for birds, butterflies, and other fellow beings?

Birds observed in June

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Through the Window: May 2020

Eastern Phoebe pair at nest, woodcarving by Bob Spear
Eastern Phoebe pair at nest. This woodcarving by Bob Spear, finished in 1981, is upstairs in our Nesting Gallery.

This exhibit of Eastern Phoebes nesting sure puts us in mind of spring. And spring truly is here: a bit of mud, early leaves, returning migrants.

We look forward to the days when the dangers of this coronavirus are past or at least well-mitigated, and we can offer early morning bird walks again. In the meantime, please enjoy our records from our view-through-the-window, and take a turn on our trails yourself, if you can.

May birds

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Through the Window: March 2020

Gray Squirrel in snow
Squirrels seem to appreciate the spillage from the feeders above. The snow has pretty well gone by the time of posting.

Well this was not the March we expected. Admittedly, the birds here seem quite unaffected.

We did keep observing birds from our windows and cams, just with fewer human friends (in person).  Welcome back, Common Grackle and Song Sparrow!

We’ve rearranged our schedules and updated some policies to deal with COVID-19. Details soon! The birds are being fed less often, and we’d already changed what and where we’d fed them. (We do that each spring anyway, because the forests in Huntington do have bears and we’d prefer only smaller mammals take advantage of what the birds leave.)

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Through the Window: May 2019

[Great Crested Flycatcher on office window netting. May 2019]
Great Crested Flycatcher on office window netting, May 2019
We started off our opening month with fantastic birds and birders and bird walks.! Even some surprising observations, like this one:

It seems to be nesting nearby, as it has returned to the window several times—for nesting material? Territory? Foraging? We don’t know yet…

As for other May birds, seen by more people through the bigger window: read on!

 

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