VINS celebrates with a series of special programs
Friday, Feb. 14- Sunday, Feb. 17—QUECHEE—This weekend, professional and amateur ornithologists alike will join forces to catalog the current state of birdlife around the world.
Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.org. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard or anywhere in the world.
Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share.
Last year, more than 160,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded.
The 21st annual GBBC will be held Friday, Feb. 14, through Monday, February 17. On Feb. 15 at the Vermont Institute of Natural science (VINS) Nature Center, a series of activities are planned. Visit Bird Count Headquarters anytime from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. to pick up your Citizen Scientist Data Sheet. Whether in the field or in the classroom, add your data to the day’s list and check out what other visitors have seen.
At 11 a.m. have all your burning questions answered in this introduction to the largest bird survey ever conducted, and the part you can play in it, as well as a visit from a live raptor. At 12:30, learn about the songbirds of VINS. Come meet and hear the individual stories of our resident mourning doves, American robins, northern cardinal, and others.
At 1:15, join a raptor expert on this guided walk through the raptor enclosures. Learn all kinds of insider information from design and upkeep to the natural history of our resident raptors.
Then at 2 p.m. come inside to warm up from a hard day’s bird-watching to meet our avian ambassadors as they fly right by and a VINS educator explains their amazing adaptations in Predators of the Sky.
Finally at 2:45 it’s raptor feeding time. Ever wonder what they feed the raptors at VINS? Or how they keep residents healthy and happy? Join in to observe the eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls eating their daily meal and discover what it takes to care for these wonderful creatures.
All programs are included with general admission to VINS.
For more information, contact 802-359-5000 or info@vinsweb.org.
