Welcome to VINS
The VINS Nature Center is open daily from 10am – 4pm.
All outdoor exhibits are open: Raptors, Songbird Aviary, Adventure Playscape, Nature Trails, and the amazing Forest Canopy Walk. Our indoor exhibits are open: Birds Are Dinosaurs, Forest Exhibit, and Reptile Room.
We highly recommend prepurchasing your admission tickets. We welcome all walk-ins.
Contact Us
Nature Center Hours
VINS Nature Center
10 AM to 4 PM Daily
Wild Bird Rehab
802.359.5000 x212
8 AM to 4:30 PM Daily
Visitor Programs
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Natural Wonders
Daily 10:30 AM
A journey of discovery through the wonders of the natural world. -
Raptors Up Close
Daily 11 AM
Explore the natural world through the eyes of raptors. -
Songbird Aviary Tour
Daily 12:30 PM
Spend some time with our songbirds as they fly around you. -
Raptor Feeding Time
Daily 2 PM
Join our raptor care-givers for feeding time.
Forest Storytime
FEBRUARY 5 & 12 – Join an Educator for our early learner’s storytime sessions. We’ll read stories, play games, sing songs, and laugh with puppets. Each session will focus on a different topic to learn about animals, plants, or other wonders of nature. This experience is designed to help promote connection, exploration, curiosity, and joy for the outdoors. (For ages 5 and younger).
Robert Frost Through the Seasons: Winter
FEBRUARY 5 – Join VINS Executive Director Alden Smith to explore the poetry of Robert Frost. Each session will be dedicated to reading and interpreting poems relevant to the season. These workshops will involve gentle trail walking through the woods and meadow of the VINS Nature Center, visiting natural spaces reminiscent of locations Frost wrote about. Poems will be sent to participants in advance of each session for those who want to read the poems ahead of time. The workshops will include walking, presentation, and discussion.
Superb Owls
FEBRUARY 7 – Learn about the stats of “owl” of your favorite players at Superb Owls! Meet our ambassador owls and discover what makes them such tough competition in the fields. Play games to learn what it’s like to hunt as an owl and take a closer look inside the food chain through an owl pellet dissection. Round off the evening with an owl prowl on the VINS nature trails in search of wild owls. After the prowl, treat yourself to some Superb Owl snacks!
