We recently put up a Wildlife Sighting Calendar here at the Museum and we’re hoping you can help. Any time you see an interesting animal, a new wildflower blooming or an interesting natural happening, give the museum a call or e-mail me at betsy@nature-museum.org and we’ll put it on the calendar, or you can stop by and put it on the calendar yourself.

In April and May we will be hosting the Lone Mountain Artists exhibit titled “Visions of Nature.” This collection of paintings, drawings and photographs of the New England landscape, its plants and animals. Uses a variety of media to capture a unique interpretation of the area we live in.

Through this exhibit the artists hope to promote awareness and appreciation of the natural beauty and fragility of our remarkable New England environment. Lone Mountain Artists will donate a percentage of each sale to The Nature Museum. The artists in this exhibit include Donna Allen, Martine Villalard-Bohnsack, Carole-Anne Centre, Diane Gibbons, Gundy Khouw and Evelien Bachrach-Seeger. They live throughout Southern New Hampshire.

Spotted Salamanders are large, black glossy amphibians with bright yellow spots. You almost have to see it to believe it! And if you would like to see one now is the time to be on the look out.

Spotted salamanders normally live underground in the woods but on a rainy night in early spring they often cross roads as they often cross roads as they migrate to vernal (temporary) pools to breed. Generally the migration happens on the first night in the spring that is over 40 degrees Fahrenheit and rains all night. Though this sounds like a simple formula, it is not always easy to predict and every valley in the area can be different enough that the migration can happen on different nights throughout early spring.

If there are any questions or reports about this amazing phenomenon please call The Nature Museum. We love to talk about and hear about salamanders. 802-843-2111.

Every year we have the opportunity to work with graduate students interns from Antioch University New England. These talented individuals work with us on projects in environmental education, exhibit design, facilities management, or trails.

This winter and spring, we have been lucky to have two interns working with us.

Tanya Milano is working with Springfield teachers in their classrooms. She is working with five classrooms and is designing place based programming that ties into the curriculum for that classroom. Her projects have gotten the students outside using their observations skills, having them design trail signs to correspond to their unit on raising salmon, and are having them learn mapping skills by drawing the downtown. She is passionate about connecting kids to their local communities and we are excited that she is sharing that passion with the students in Springfield classes.

Lenoir McDougal is working with the former Falls Playschool in Bellows Falls. This preschool had recently discontinued formal preschool education, leaving many young children without a structured educational gathering to attend. Working with the Museum and parents of the young students, Lenoir is designing and leading eight weekly visits that revolve around the natural world. She is engaging these young learners with fun activities and also providing them essential skills for entering Kindergarten. With each visit, she also engages the families through a newsletter filled with topical activities that they can try at home together. Lenoir is very creative and engaging with these young students and their families. We are very excited that she is working with us to bring nature education to the Falls Playschool.

With the arrival of spring, gardeners of all varieties are feeling the itch to dig into the soil and plant young seedlings or seeds. I, along with my husband and kids, are avid vegetable growers for our personal consumption. The time out in our garden is a way that we can connect with natural systems on a small scale. While we are out in the garden, we are part of the cycles of the seasons, we can delve into soil composition and the amazing critters that live there, and we can observe ecological food systems at work. Gardening is a great way for us to learn about the natural world in a “controlled” and small space.

For the past several years, The Nature Museum has offered a garden design course in the spring. The talented instructors for this course, Laurie Danforth (the Museum’s Board President), Jana Wunderlee of Terriginous Design and Laurie Bolotin of Morningstar Perennials have helped many people look at and experience their gardens in new ways. Inspired by the success of this class, the Museum is undertaking a new venture this year.

Starting this Spring and continuing through the Fall, the Museum is offering a series of programs about cultivating the earth. The series is called “Gardening with Nature.” These programs will cover such things as the basics of garden design, visiting historic gardens, garden tea parties, and basic how-to’s in the garden. Our goal is to offer a diverse and engaging series of programs that will help people experience nature through gardens, whether they be their own garden or someone’ else’s.

The “Gardening with Nature” programs are listed in a special brochure that is inserted in with this newsletter. The programs will also be listed, along with all of regular public program offerings, on the Museum’s website, in our newsletter, and on our friends of the Museum email list.

I hope you have a chance to join us in the garden this year!

2000 by Warner Shedd (Author), and Trudy Nicholson (Illustrator)

Owls Aren’t Wise & Bats Aren’t Blind covers more than thirty North American species-some as familiar as the common toad, others as elusive as the lynx. It is written by wildlife expert and enthusiast Warner Shedd, former New England Regional Executive for the National Wildlife Federation, and resident of Vermont. Shedd captivates the reader as only an experienced naturalist could, with detailed, accurate information on such varied wildlife as muskrats, herons, brown bears, crows, armadillos, and coyotes. Owls Aren’t Wise & Bats Aren’t Blind grew out of Warner Shedd’s desire to share biologically sound information and counter inaccurate folklore about wild animals. By arming his readers with knowledge, Shedd hopes to promote a more informed and respectful view of many North American wildlife species and ultimately encourage the scientific management and conservation of all our native wildlife.

Stephen Kress. Cornell University Press. 2006.

This book was written for landscapers, birders, gardeners, and naturalists. In it Stephen Kress provides a practical guide to attracting birds to any property, large or small. In Kress’s view, the best way to attract birds is to enrich habitats by improving vegetation, natural foods, water supplies, and nest sites.

]]> tag:www.nature-museum.org,2008:/newsletter//3.86 2008-04-29T19:12:26Z 2008-04-29T19:14:09Z

Garlic mustard is trouble. Unlike many other invasive plants, it doesn’t stop at the forest edge. It thrives in partial shade and so has no trouble growing in forest understories.

It can grow densely, crowding out other plants. In the forest, the plants it crowds out includes trilliums, jack-in-the-pulpits, as well as our beautiful, and often vulnerable, native orchids.

Garlic mustard also loves lime. This means it is an aggressive invader in rare habitats, such as the calcareous riverside seeps found in a few places along the Connecticut River. The delicate species found in these areas include the plant with the best plant name ever: grass-of-Parnassus, and the aptly named showy orchis, which is a two-toned magenta-and-white beauty.

Garlic mustard also does a number on two butterfly species. The mustard white butterfly and the West Virginia white butterfly (closely related to each other) sometimes mistakenly lay their eggs on garlic mustard instead of native mustards.

The results are disastrous. The eggs hatch, but the caterpillars die before they can make a chrysalis.

The rare West Virginia white normally lays its eggs only on toothwort. It is not that toothwort and garlic mustard look alike. (Although both have four-petaled flowers. Garlic mustard’s are tiny and white.) Garlic mustard gives off the same chemical that the West Virginia white uses to home in on toothwort plants.

For years, garlic mustard was on the “least wanted” list of natural area managers in southern New England. But lately, garlic mustard is moving in to Vermont and New Hampshire in greater numbers. Bob Popp, a botanist with the State of Vermont, says it’s mostly found in Vermont’s southern four counties, especially near rivers and streams.

In New Hampshire, it’s been found in Westmoreland, Manchester, Plainfield and Hanover.

This is a time of year to keep an eye out for the plant. Its first-year basal rosette, or circle of leaves, stays green throughout the winter. (Garlic mustard is native to northern Europe, so it handles cold well.)

It’s not the only green basal rosette you’ll see with kidney-shaped, scalloped leaves (violets, white avens, and other mustard species look similar). But the fact that it is green in earliest spring, and not much else is, certainly narrows the possibilities. In winter, look for the S-shaped bend at the top of the root. In spring, the leaves’ distinctive garlic odor when crushed gives it away.

There are many ways to get rid of this pesky plant. The goal is to stop the plant from setting seed. Unlike many invasive plants, garlic mustard only spreads through seeds.

Hand-pulling is the best choice, and the only choice when rare plants are nearby. But garlic mustard can take over large areas. In those cases, cutting, with a string trimmer or a lawn mower, can work, especially if you cut again and again before the plant sets seed.

Herbicide is another option. Garlic mustard grows throughout the winter on warm, snow-free days. Because of this, herbicide can be applied in late fall, winter or early spring when other, desirable plants are dormant.

According to a report by the Nature Conservancy, the search for a biological control of garlic mustard is focused on five species of weevils. The issue is whether these insects will leave our native mustards alone and only go after garlic mustard.

There is one other way to get rid of garlic mustard, and that is to eat it ourselves. This is not as gruesome as it first sounds. Garlic mustard is used as an herb in England. It may have been first brought to this continent to be eaten.

Bruce Kennedy, former chef for the Manchester site of the Bennington County Meals on Wheels/ Senior Meals Program came up with a tasty recipe for pesto using garlic mustard for a program on invasive plants in southern Vermont a few years ago.

Kennedy notes that young spring leaves are best for the recipe. The plant loses its garlic odor (and taste) as it ages.

Place garlic mustard, garlic, salt, and pine nuts in a food processor and finely chop. With food processor running, add olive oil in a thin stream. Scrape the sides of the bowl to mix ingredients. Continue to blend until smooth. Add Parmesan cheese and blend using the pulse feature briefly.

Whatever you do, don’t plant the stuff just to eat it!! Garlic mustard crowds out rare plants and deceives rare butterflies. There is plenty of it to be had, and plenty of land owners happy to have your help pulling it up.

]]> tag:www.nature-museum.org,2008:/newsletter//3.84 2008-04-29T16:55:32Z 2008-05-01T12:42:07Z

Lynn Levine and Martha Mitchell, both friends of The Nature Museum, have a new version of their tracking guide available:

Mammal Tracks And Scat: Life-Size Tracking Guide

This updated version now includes mammal scat as well as their tracks. The guide is a wonderful companion as you travel through the snow covered fields and forests. The tracks are life-size for easy identification and the pages are coated so that you can lay it in the snow and not ruin the book.

The Nature Museum is selling copies of this book in our Second Nature Store. We are happy to send a copy to you if you are unable to make it into the Museum.

Winter is trying for us warm-blooded creatures. But think for a minute about fish that live in cold water all winter long? They can’t throw another piece of wood into the stove so where do they go, what do they do and how well do they survive North Country winters?

Winter is a time of stress for fish. Our fish species have experienced major physiological adaptations in order to survive this yearly ordeal. Each of the two major habitats for fish, lakes and rivers provide particular challenges for fish to survive their struggle with cold temperatures.

Unfrozen lake water receives oxygen from two sources, the mixing of the water with air at the surface and from oxygen released into the water as a by-product of the photosynthesis of aquatic plants. In winter most of the plants that produced oxygen are dead and not producing oxygen. Oxygen levels are further reduced because the armies of microbes are using oxygen while working away to digest the dead plants, a double whammy for fish.During most winters, lakes freeze over so no mixing of air into water can take place at the surface. If there is snow cover then the water below the ice is in darkness so no photosynthesis is possible at all not even by phytoplankton. Deeper lakes become stratified with the oxygen depleted water at the bottom. As oxygen becomes depleted fish migrate up the water column toward the surface or toward inlet streams where oxygen levels are higher.

Over the winter in order to balance the low dissolved oxygen levels, fish being cold blooded experience a drop in their heart and metabolic rate. They need less oxygen and their blood is better able to absorb any oxygen available as they just sit out the cold. A reduced metabolic rate reduces the energy required to maintain the body. The downside of a slow metabolism is that it limits what fish can do. For instance, they are much slower to escape danger.

In the worst winters the stage is set for a winterkill. If low oxygen conditions persist and fish are unable to move to other areas, the situation can result in a die-off due to asphyxiation. Winterkill is most common in shallow lakes because of longer periods of no photosynthesis in the water. Lakes with rich, dense aquatic plant communities in summer are also susceptible to winterkill during harsh winters because more plants mean more microbes and more oxygen removed from the water. Game fish such as trout, pike and perch are especially sensitive to winterkill because of their need for high oxygen levels.

Now what happens in rivers? Many of the winter conditions in rivers are the same as in lakes: plants are producing little oxygen and there is a drawdown on available oxygen by decomposition of the plants. The three identified types of river ice: frazil, anchor and surface ice each create their own problems for river fish.

Rivers and streams seldom freeze over completely so the air into water mixing at the surface replenishes oxygen in the river most of the winter. Fish kills seldom occur in the winter from oxygen depletion in riverine habitats unless there are unusual ice jamming events or surface ice influences flow conditions that strand fish in areas that have no water circulation.

As water temperatures drop fish retreat to deeper pools in search of less current. This is in response to their slower metabolism and less energy to fight the current. Studies show that larger fish prefer the deeper pools. As winter progresses smaller fish are pushed out of the deeper quiet water to shallow or riffle areas where they must search out any substrate formation like a bolder that offers them protection from the current.

There is a relationship between good winter habitat and the size of the fish in it, the better the habitat the bigger the fish. Yet river ice is a major challenge to all fish. Even ideal holding areas can deteriorate if ice reduces the total area available for flowing water. That can force fish together. Wild fish are stressed by close proximity to other fish.

Anchor ice freezes from the bottom up in shallower areas of a stream. When it does, eggs of all aquatic species and immobile macroinvertebrate life die of asphyxiation because the anchor ice stops water and thereby oxygen from reaching any life form living on the bottom of a stream.

Surface ice can reduce the available flow area of a stream side to side and in the vertical dimension as well. Currents will increase even in the deeper pools as the size of the available channel is reduced but must still move the same amount of water. The increased velocity of the water through deep water pools can rob fish of that sanctuary.

Frazil ice is uncongealed ice crystals floating just below the surface ice. Studies of the effects of frazil ice have shown that fish can die because of the ice crystals getting lodged in their mouths and on or between their gill plates.

One last ice threat can occur as winter ends. During high water ice out events the moving ice can scour the bottom of the rivers sweeping away all life including fish eggs and macroinvertebrates leaving a sterile river bottom until it is repopulated over time through naturally occurring drifting of species into that reach of stream.

Fish have evolved their own survival responses to winter and because of that are mostly successful during this challenging time. The evolutionary adaptations that lower their need for food and oxygen and their instinctive selection of holding areas that have higher oxygen concentrations and slower flows help fish overcome a North Country winter, but it isn’t easy!

The first big snowstorm reminds us all that the year is coming to a close and a new one is just weeks away. It is a natural time to begin to reflect on the ups and downs of the past year. Here at the Nature Museum we are taking a look at how well we have met our goals for 2007. I am jubilant to report that we have had a gangbuster year.

In January 2007 the Nature Museum Board and Staff decided to focus on three areas for the next year: fundraising, connectedness and space concerns. Let me fill you in on a few of the highlights of 2007. The Nature Museum Board and Staff produced our first major fundraising event called “A Night Out for Nature”. This sold-out event raised substantial funds to support our environmental educational work as well as connecting us more strongly with Grafton and neighboring communities. The positive ripples from this fun and educational evening are still being felt by the Museum. Board members and staff worked tirelessly on the many details of putting together such a big production. An offshoot of this diligence was that we coalesced into a much stronger and more focused team. We all feel even more confident about our strength as an institution as we approach goal setting for next year.

In 2007 the Museum branched out both in adding new programming topics and in holding programs in new locations (part of our space issue too) to reach more deeply into neighboring communities. This year we began to co-sponsor a monthly Astronomy Night at Vermont Academy. We held a discussion group on sustainability in Saxton’s River. We co-sponsored a wonderful cloud program with the Rockingham Library and a garden design class in Chester to name just a few of our outreach educational offerings held outside Grafton.

During 2007 we welcomed two new board members who fill important roles for our organization. Will Danforth is our new treasurer. Will, who is best known as a local singer-songwriter musician, had a previous career in the financial industry and brings all his analytical experience to bear when perusing our budgets and numbers. Claudio Veliz is an architect and astronomer whose passion for both topics are invaluable as we look at our space issues and develop new programming about the universe and beyond. Look for Claudio’s course in astronomy to begin Fall 2008. Space within our building is still a focus area which continues to be high on the priority list for 2008. We are bigger than our four walls can contain and how we resolve this problem will be one of our big questions to answer in the coming months. We will be developing an assessment team whose task it will be to identify our building needs and options.

All in all we have had a wonderfully active and productive year and look forward to 2008 with a renewed sense of dedication to linking people with nature and each other. As a board we have developed into a hard-working team ready to tackle whatever issues face us in 2008. I am proud to preside over such an inspiring group of individuals who continually show their love for the earth by donating countless hours to the work of the Nature Museum. I am grateful for all of you, our friends, who so generously support our mission of connecting children and adults with the wonders of land, sea, and skies. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Laurie Danforth

Other then watching the birds at your birdfeeder, you may not think much about bird-watching in the winter, but there are a number of local places where you can see interesting species in the winter. One of them is the “Thermal Pool” in Bellows Falls. The water in this small pond does not freeze during the winter, and so you are likely to see birds that you are unlikely to see in other places this time of year, such as Robins, Phoebes, Winter Wrens, Carolina Wrens and Wood Ducks. The water is warm enough that some insects are probably able to hatch out and provide food. The thermal pool is right near the Connecticut River, below the dam, so while you are visiting the pond you can also check out what avian species are visiting the river. Because the water is open below the dam you can sometimes see Bald Eagles there soaring through the skies. By March it is time to search that same open water for waterfowl such as male mergansers in their striking black and white breeding plumage. You may also see Golden Eyes, Hooded Mergansers and Bufflehead ducks. So bring your binoculars and stop by Bellows Falls for some birdwatching.

The Nature Museum has a few new residents, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches! These large, glossy insects (which were donated by Heather Lane of Athens, VT) will be on exhibit most of the time, and will be used often in our insect programs and habitat programs. Though Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches were once only found on the island of Madagascar, they are now often sold in pet stores. The “Hissing “ part of their name comes from their ability to force air out of their spiracles (the small holes along their sides which they use to bring oxygen into their bodies) A hissing noise is produced as the air flows through the spiracles and is meant to scare away predators or other insects when defending a territory. We rarely hear these insects hiss though, so they must be quite content. Come and see these fascinating creatures at the museum.

After Goldfinches molt their golden summer finery they tend to spend the winter in flocks of 5-100 birds. They feed on grass and weed seeds in fields, meadows and backyards. They especially like Ragweed, Thistles, Goldenrod, Evening Primrose and Mullein. In the winter they also enjoy the seeds of birches, alders and conifers.

You may see these birds calmly picking out seeds and holding on tight to these plants while the winter wind blows. Thistle plants are not only important to the Goldfinch as a food source, they use the plants’ downy seeds for nesting material. In fact, goldfinches are among the latest nesting birds in New England, in this way their nesting coincides with seed production of thistles.

Watch for Goldfinches at your bird feeder this winter, and remember, the males will have molted their bright yellow in exchange for a more humble brownish-gray winter suit.

• Meet at the Vermont Academy Observatory on Shepard Lane, off Pleasant Street. The Observatory is located in the field beyond the Chiver’s Center, Saxtons River, VT

• Rain/Cloud Date, the following Sunday night.

Join Bob Anderson, Science and Astronomy teacher at Vermont Academy, and other local amateur astronomers for observations of the winter sky. Experience the awe of seeing the night sky through Vermont Academy’s large telescope, as well as several smaller telescopes. You are welcome to come for all or any part of the event.

Join Stan and Pat Mack for an illuminated travelogue about their two week trip to Alaska. The trip brought them from Anchorage to Denali National Park to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. The second week included a cruise from Seward to Ketchikan. Along the way the Mac’s visited glaciers from a helicopter and took on the class III and IV river rapids in Denali National Park.

• Pre-registration preferred

Once a month, The Nature Museum will offer this fun-filled time for preschoolers and their caregivers. Participants will explore outside and visit different habitats. This hands-on time will foster creativity and allow them to connect with the natural world. Participants will also enjoy the many resources that the museum has to offer through the exhibits, puppet shows, and dramatic play.

Celebrate the night with an inside program about Bats and a glide across a pond under the stars. This is a great way to get out and enjoy the beauty of a winter’s eve, and learn a little something about those fascinating furry, flying creatures. Ice skates are available to rent from Grafton Ponds for a fee.

• Meet at the Vermont Academy Observatory on Shepard Lane, off Pleasant Street. The Observatory is located in the field beyond the Chiver’s Center, Saxtons River, VT

• Rain/Cloud Date, the following Sunday night.

Join Bob Anderson, Science and Astronomy teacher at Vermont Academy, and other local amateur astronomers for observations of the winter sky. Experience the awe of seeing the night sky through Vermont Academy’s large telescope, as well as several smaller telescopes. You are welcome to come for all or any part of the event.

In the winter, animals leave clues about where they’ve been, who they are, and what they’ve been doing. Participants will learn the basics about the track patterns animals leave and learn to identify them through slides, specimens, and casts of tracks. This program will serve as a great introduction to the outdoor tracking afternoon at Minards Pond the following weekend. This program is part of the “Exploring Rockingham: Nature Out Our Backdoor” series, which is made possible by a grant from TransCanada.

• Meet at Mindars Pond, just north of Bellows Falls. Take Rte 5 to Pond Road (across from Dr. Johnson's office). Park outside the gate at the top of the hill, on the side of the road. Please do not block the gate.

Gather up your friends and family for a fun filled walk around Minards Pond, the reservoir for Bellows Falls. Join a Nature Museum naturalist to search for tracks and other signs left by our woodland neighbors. Snowshoes are recommended if the snow cover warrants it.

This program is part of the “Exploring Rockingham: Nature Out Our Backdoor” series which is made possible by a grant from TransCanada.

• Pre-registration required by February 10th
• An adult partner is required for each child
• 10 student limit for each session

Try your hand at being a paleontologist! Join the Museum in welcoming Nancy Walker of Dinosaur Discovery, who will lead an engaging program on dinosaurs. Participants will conduct a hands-on “fossil dig” by learning about how fossils develop, are uncovered, analyzed and reconstructed. Children and their adult partners will find their own hidden dinosaur or marine reptile skeleton, put it together and create a reconstructed life-sized mural to take home. During the two hours of the program, participants will go through a process similar to that which takes paleontologists 3-5 years to complete.

• Pre-registration preferred

Once a month, The Nature Museum will offer this fun-filled time for preschoolers and their caregivers. Participants will explore outside and visit different habitats. This hands-on time will foster creativity and allow them to connect with the natural world. Participants will also enjoy the many resources that the museum has to offer through the exhibits, puppet shows, and dramatic play.

• For More Information or to register, contact Jackie at 802-463-3330 Jackie@greatriverarts.org

In this week-long workshop students will learn basic bookmaking techniques and then fill their books with explorations of nature in winter. Students will sketch, learn crayon resist techniques, create their own tracking field guide and learn about winter adaptations for animals. This workshop will also include trips to the Fish Ladder Visitor Center to see the exhibits.

This program is in collaboration with Great River Arts Institute in Bellows Falls, VT

• Pre-registration preferred

Join a Nature Museum naturalist for a fun trek through the woods of Grafton. Weather permitting, participants will snowshoe on trails, looking for tracks and other interesting natural notables. The Nature Museum has a limited number of snowshoes that can be borrowed, so call ahead to reserve them.

Get out and experience the peace and the mystery of the night forest after dark. After an introduction inside everyone will put on snowshoes and walk through Grafton Pond’s moonlit trails. This is a magical time to experience the woods. We will return to the building to warm up by the fire and sip hot chocolate. Snowshoes are available to rent from Grafton Ponds for a fee.

• Pre-registration preferred

February vacation is a great time to play in the snow and cold. While participants play group games they will learn how wild animals make use of the snow in the winter and live in the cold temperatures. This will be an active day outdoors so bring your warmest clothes, boots, a snack, and a bag lunch.

• Pre-registration preferred

• Pre-registration preferred

• Please Pre-register

• Pre-registration Required

For More Information Please Contact The Nature Museum at 802-843-2111.

• Meet at the Vermont Academy Observatory on Shepard Lane, off Pleasant Street. The Observatory is located in the field beyond the Chiver’s Center, Saxtons River, VT

• Rain/Cloud Date, the following Sunday night.

Join Bob Anderson, Science and Astronomy teacher at Vermont Academy, and other local amateur astronomers for observations of the winter sky. Experience the awe of seeing the night sky through Vermont Academy’s large telescope, as well as several smaller telescopes. You are welcome to come for all or any part of the event.

Join Sally Warren, a Grafton resident, for a program describing her trip to Tibet in September of 2007. She, along with five other Vermonters, joined a large group of Argentineans, Brits and Tibetans on a pilgrimage to the Sacred Mt. Kailas. This slide show of Tibet will include shots of Lhasa, the Western plateau, the path around Mt. Kailas and a group of joyful pilgrims. There will be time for lots of questions.

Join a naturalist-led exploration for late winter wildlife signs as you explore the New England Landscape. Depending on the conditions, participants will either hike or snowshoe through a diversity of habitats. We will learn to read the stories in the snow told by animal tracks and traces. Snowshoes are available to rent from Grafton Ponds for a fee.

• Pre-registration preferred

Once a month, The Nature Museum will offer this fun-filled time for preschoolers and their caregivers. Participants will explore outside and visit different habitats. This hands-on time will foster creativity and allow them to connect with the natural world. Children will also make use of the many resources that the museum has to offer through the exhibits, puppet shows, and dramatic play.

Celebrate the beginning of Spring with the Nature Museum’s annual egg hunt. As migrating birds begin to return to our local landscape, take some time to think about the wonders of eggs. After an indoor introduction to a variety of bird’s eggs and nests, participants will head outside and search for hidden eggs. Inside the eggs will be secret puzzle clues which, when solved, will lead the group to its prize. Everyone will come out a winner at this egg hunt!

For more information please contact The Nature Museum at 802-843-2111 or e-mail staff@nature-museum.org, or check our website at http://www.nature-museum.org.

Check out our new website! http://www.nature-museum.org