Great Backyard Bird Count
Saturday, February 17 / 10 AM – 4 PM
Included with general admission to the VINS Nature Center

Enjoy watching birds at your feeders? Want to learn more about helping the birds in your community? Then put your bird watching skills to work at VINS as we celebrate the Great Backyard Bird Count. Visit us and learn to count birds for science!

Join the global wildlife science phenomenon that is the Great Backyard Bird Count! Learn how watching the birds at your feeders can help researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society understand what birds do in the winter. With a naturalist as your guide, you’ll be one of thousands of people around the world celebrating these delightful creatures. Put your bird-watching skills to work and enjoy activities for all ages!

10:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 3:30 PM / Birding
Following the Great Backyard Bird Count protocol, join an educator for a 15 minute birding tour. Learn about ways to track your data and input it to join the thousands of other birders for this global community science effort. Binoculars and pocket field guides will be available to borrow during this activity. (Meet at the exit of the Songbird Exhibit)

1 PM – 3 PM / Pokémon GO Birding!
Professor Oak needs your help! VINS is teeming with real-life Pokémon, frolicking about feeders and chattering in the trees. It’s the perfect opportunity to study them and he needs your help to catch them all, not with a Poké Ball but with your smartphone camera! Once you capture as many different Pokémon as you can on camera, head back to the lab to report your numbers and show your photos to our team of Pokémon scientists who will help you to identify them and teach you all about them. As a gift from Professor Oak, for each different Pokémon you find, you can bring one home in the form of a playable and collectable card! Not only will you help to advance Pokémon research, but by participating in the backyard bird count you can help out real-life scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (Neale Pavilion)

11 AM – 11:30 AM / Raptors up Close
Explore the fascinating lives of raptors and learn which ones call Vermont “home” year-round, and which ones head south for winter. (Neale Pavilion)

12:30 PM – 1 PM / Songbird Aviary Tour
Join an educator and meet our resident songbirds up close. Practice identifying some of the species you may encounter in your own backyard! (Songbird Aviary)

2 PM – 2:30 PM / Raptors up Close
Explore the fascinating lives of raptors and learn which ones call Vermont “home” year-round, and which ones head south for winter. (Neale Pavilion)

12 PM – 2 PM / Chickadee Landing Station
Sometimes when out in nature, if you sit very still and quiet, amazing things can happen. Join a VINS educator for this unique chance at an up-close encounter with a wild songbird at our specially-designed feeding station. You’ll learn about the intricacies of feeding and interacting with wildlife in a way that benefits us all. (Meet at the exit of the Songbird Exhibit; limited to 12 spots; first come, first served)

For more information, contact us at 802.359.5000 or info@vinsweb.org.