Chip Notes NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE OF MUSEUM Volume 29 Winter 2015

BOB SPEAR (1920—2014)

I met Bob back in the base on which I would subsequently build the 1970’s when he my nature appreciation and especially, my love was the director at of birds. the Green Mountain Bob is no longer with us, but I like to think of him Center. walking the trails of heaven and telling a lot more Although I am not people up there all about the natural world, how a teacher, I was to carve birds, what it was like living on a Vermont taking a two-week back road with a beautiful view of Camel’s Hump, summer course at and how he started a Museum. For those of us left Audubon to help down here on earth, he showed us the way to do it teachers learn about and he left us a wonderful legacy in his carvings to the natural world share with others who are just starting out to learn around them and or maybe already know a lot and just want to hopefully, pass come to the Museum to enjoy looking, meeting their newfound (Caleb Kenna photo, 2012) friends, and especially marveling at the beautiful appreciation on birds and little corners of Vermont life he created to their students. I had recently moved to Vermont from around them. Thank you, Bob. We miss you. Iowa and Maine and really wanted to learn about our local plants, animals, birds, , etc., and I remember — Shirley Johnson being so impressed by Bob. He seemed to be able to answer any question that I or anyone else in the group would pose for him. I learned a lot in those two weeks and I thank Bob for giving me

THE LEGACY Bob Spear (Art Gill photo, ~2002) Next Steps for the Museum It is the end of an era, but Bob, Gale, staff, and the Board prepared for this change when the Museum was initially founded. From the charter to the bylaws to the formal donation of the carvings, the Museum has always been its own legal entity, one shaped by Bob and his vision. This is a quality we will never lose. Together, we continue to provide education, nurture an appreciation of the environment, and study birds and their habitat using woodcarvings and other museum resources. Bob Spear, the founding members, and the dedicated Board, volunteers, and staff intended –then and now–to keep on carving, researching, teaching, and celebrating natural history and art. Come on over and visit, re-visit, and share the future with us. Volume 29 2 2015

THE CARVER’S DAUGHTER Remembrance: Tales of my Father In place of a regular Carver’s Daughter installment, skaters in the winter and built their own iceboat, I want to offer a few tidbits of information about my which, my father said, “went like a bat out of hell.” I’m father that most people probably don’t know. Bear sure they had no safety equipment. in mind that these are family stories and may have One winter a Model T broke through the lake ice and been embellished through the years. (But not by sank near their fishing shanty. A man struggled to the me, of course!) surface, and the boys shoved their sled out to him. He Our name shouldn’t be Spear. grabbed on and they pulled him My great-grandmother, Julia to safety—but he had a heart Spear, eloped with a man from attack and died before they could Canada named Ovitt, and get him into the warmth of their disappeared for an entire year. shanty. My father made me One day she reappeared on her promise never to ride in a car on parents’ doorstep with a the ice. I never will. newborn baby and moved back My father claimed to have in, simply saying that she was paddled the first canoe on divorced. She took back the Malletts Bay since the Indians name Spear for herself and her left. It was made of black canvas baby, who was my grandfather, Wyban farm during Bob’s childhood (date unknown) stretched over a wooden frame. the first Robert Newell Spear. It weighed about a thousand My father did not grow up in Vermont, though he was pounds when dry and twice that wet, and he claimed it born here. He was raised until he was about sixteen in was the best paddling canoe he ever had. Drivers on Wyben, , where his family moved so that Lakeshore Drive used to stop and stare at him in his his mother could continue teaching after she got funny boat with points at both ends. married. Vermont then had a law that only single As a young man, my father frequented a roller-skating women could teach school. rink at Clarey’s Bayside in Colchester. Years later, My father was kidnapped when he was a baby. One day when Gale accepted an invitation to a roller-skating his mother was sitting on a train platform, with my party for herself and my father, she was afraid he father in a basket at her feet. A woman passing by would be in for a miserable afternoon. But when she suddenly snatched him, basket and all, and raced off looked up from lacing her skates, my father was already into the crowd. His mother tore after them, screaming. on the floor, weaving in and out between people, Fortunately, some people farther down the platform skating backward on one foot. With a huge grin on were able to stop the woman. The woman was, as they his face, of course. said back then, “mentally deranged,” and had stolen My father had a horse named Ned. He also had a cat he my father because he was such a cute baby. He slept loved dearly, so much that after it died, he vowed he through the entire experience. would never have another pet. He never did. (Though My grandmother was my father’s early teacher, in a he was known to cuddle Gale’s cat Hussy quite a bit.) one-room schoolhouse. After her death, my He built himself a darkroom, learned taxidermy and grandfather moved to Colchester with his son and astronomy from books, made two guitars and a daughter. My father became friends with Charles mandolin, played them all, and could cut down a tree Smith, and the two boys explored with an ax, dropping it exactly where he wanted it together. Their role model was Yan, the hero of Ernest every time. Thompson Seton’s Two Little Savages, a popular boy’s book of the time. They pitched a tent halfway between My father as a boy smoked everything he could get their houses and slept in it all summer. They were avid hold of. When cigarettes were too expensive, he WINTER 3 2015

Museum. I kept my mouth shut about that afterward. My father used to have his own Boy Scout troop. He was like a magnet for troubled teenagers. When a parent thanked him from the bottom of her heart for turning her child’s life around, he’d shrug and say, “Well, I just had him help me clear a trail or dig a pond.” My father almost blew up a man once. When he wanted to create a way down to the lakeshore from the Parakeets, Bob’s first carving (Erin Talmage photo, 2004) property where he and my mother were building a camp, he got hold of dynamite somehow. He drilled smoked corn silk, which was all right, or rolled-up wild into the ledge, planted the charge, and set it off. Rock grapevine, which was pretty awful. Perhaps that was rained down into the lake. And a man fishing in a what cured him of the smoking habit before he became rowboat shot out from behind a small island just an adult. offshore. My father said he was all right, but he was My father was bullied in high school. He was young madder than a hornet. for his grade, small, shy, and smart, and therefore a My father was married twice before he met Gale—first target for tough Winooski boys. After he graduated, to a woman named Eileen, then to my mother, Sally he vowed he would never set foot in another school as Stalker Spear. I am his only child. He wanted to name a student, and he pretty much didn’t, aside from a me Robin, whether I was a boy or a girl. They settled few night classes in math at UVM and his training in on Karen Joelle, but when he saw me for the first time, the Navy later. he said, “That’s not a Karen Joelle. That’s a Kari Jo.” It He worked in a sawmill and on the Blakely Farm stuck. And I was never quite sure what he’d meant. My in Colchester, plowing and haying with a team of parents separated when I was ten and later divorced. I horses. He cut ice with a crosscut saw on the lake. only saw my father on weekends or school vacations He preferred the end on top of the ice when he could while he was the director of the Green Mountain get it. Aubudon Nature During WWII, he enlisted in the Navy against his Center. father’s wishes. The results of his math tests landed him My father in Chicago for the duration of the war, putting his hunted deer creative skills into the desperate need for radar until, as he put development to detect German U-boats. It wasn’t what it, he grew out he’d hoped for; he wanted to follow in the footsteps of of it. his great-grandfather and hero, Alonzo Spear, who My father voted fought in every major battle of the Civil War. But in Republican until, time, he realized the importance of his work and as he put it, he reflected on the American lives he’d helped to save. wised up. Though I’m sure he always regretted that he hadn’t had a chance to take out Hitler with a well-thrown ax. He worked as a salesman at Sears The need for radar experts on board ships grew for a short time desperate, though, by the end of war. My father had Bob Spear at Green Mountain Nature before moving Center (Kari Jo Spear photo, date unknown) just been assigned to a ship in the South Pacific when on to a career at the United States dropped the atomic bombs. Once, General Electric doing further work with radar. self-righteously, I criticized our country for causing such violence. My father quietly told me that if the He disliked coffee and alcohol, except for an occasional United States hadn’t dropped the bombs, I probably beer. would not exist. Neither would the Birds of Vermont continued on page 4 Volume 29 4 2015

The Carver’s Daughter(continued from page 3) He could hardly swim a stroke and hated to get even of volunteers he was training to work in the nature his big toe wet. center’s sugar orchard, I heard him say, “Audubon only allows us to run over three kids with the tractor per He was a lousy cook. Aside from frying hamburgers, all year. Choose them wisely.” he ever fixed himself for dinner was a can of Dinty Moore beef stew. And ice cream, of course. And to a student who pointed to a fat, furry He was so squeamish that he used to leave movies woodchuck under the during gory parts. Once when I cut my finger, he had feeders and asked what it to go sit in the shade while I put on a Band-Aid. was, he said, “That’s a He could mentally fight every battle of the Civil War chipmunk. They lose their and tell you where all the Vermont troops had stood in stripes when they get each one. He was also an expert on the American that big.” Revolution, which was far simpler and lacking in He never went anywhere brilliant generals. without his binoculars, He designed and built a house, a camp, a museum, even in an ambulance to Gale’s retreat, countless blinds, and a bridge the hospital. They see that withstood a flood that took out all the ground peregrine falcons around Bob Spear around it. there, you know. (Hugh Putnam photo ~1976) He sat through The Nutcracker ballet at least fifteen I asked him, when I was a child and first grappling with times, doing grandfather the idea of death, if he would ever die. He told me yes, duty. And honestly said but not for a long, long time. He was right. he liked it. At the end, when we were told he had only months to He occasionally liked to live, he did things his own way and wrapped everything travel, driving across the up in three days. I was with him when he passed. He country from one National did it with the least amount of fuss possible, a recording Park to the next, giving all of birdsongs playing quietly in the background. A few cities a wide berth. He went days later, Gale and I scattered his ashes at his favorite to the South American places around the museum grounds, as he’d requested. tropics several times, but Then I sprinkled the rest into the brook, knowing they never farther from home would wash down through the nature center and than that. I did hear him eventually into the lake, where he’d once paddled his say once that he’d like to go odd boat with the points at both ends and raced an to Africa. iceboat into the stars. He had a unique sense of And one other thing I know for certain: as a friend said, humor and delivered all his he will have already added a Labrador Duck and a lines as a straight, deadpan Passenger Pigeon to his lifelist. part of his normal — Kari Jo Spear Gale + Bob, ~1990s conversation. To a group

Labrador Ducks, carved by Bob Spear (Erin Talmage photo, 2015) WINTER 5 2015

SOME MEMORIES FROM OUR SCRAPBOOKS W s for a hile B w common it i ob wil ’m not sure ho t l no lo I o the Mus nger com n two peo- eum ea e form betwee p ch da friendship to resenc y, his b e will be o year age felt f d B n over seventy tions or gen ha ple who have a to com era- ave ry e. His co o h ve ars old I and ntrib I t e I was eight ye simpl utions am me gap, but when e gifts ky tor hip, u will he luc en nds est s to en here fo w d m ie his ob one of my b joy ev r Ho an s fr f considered B ery da ach e hi e o pseed y. God- te ur som r being my fr to as d he , thank you fo iend. tre rbe r friends...Bob ou I will c !? I bso is, fo r time t herish day I a os r , and love ogethe e sm ste dness patience r the r hop h o ma you. Your kin my li est of nd oug nd fe. a hr s a l t an s t niu na ature have lef niu ge ptio for art and n ge as a xce —D w e b, f so many ave Jo uly an Bo k in the lives o hnson tr and ou indelible mar er, k y rv han . where you ca . T life you but hope tor my people… I miss re ca hed ind ob wo edu ic Rh beauty, uy! B enr id l of natural a g u gr are now is ful What l in yo —In ats, al d bowls ny h e ways sharp, an o ma y. Th knives are al s te wa ndersta it It w colate. an u spir as su owing with cho ative ch an over fl te cre ls he inspira ultima his goa re tion ler e to and to c —Hannah Mil g tru spend ome stayin n g time w Daviso reat h ith him Libby ow he ha . It’s — w s such ith thi a lega ing s muse cy gift, creat of um. Tha His true this B nks for rvings and en door ob —J all eautiful ca ople an op onatha b ber of pe l n Com nfinite num wildlife wil eau giving an i birds and beauty of res My e world and ob’s treasu into th n revisit B ored ly. They ca children ad n indefinite s and their go o dge of bird d his carv- heir knowle changed this man an d deepen t what has an on to see eir eyes nd then go epening ing talent. Th , a door to de pening the each museum, o would light up at the the good ht. time they had insig ...good going on a memo fortune of ries, es of m pecially this muse- y Dad those ield trip to and B f and ob ta b in ac- talkin lking um to see Bo g… ander, via tion. — R F S —G long regory CAX l be Hurd W t wil rmon in Ve tion serva o con ) ions t ebook ribut ia fac cont fe (v His Wildli ered and emb Fish rem mont We h —Ver me ave w it morie arm ing th s of um w e We Bob M hen ndell vis- useum the B Gilley wa ods Muse s just of Ve - being rmon —Wen “hatc t dell G hed” illey M useum (on faceb ook) Volume 29 6 2015

BOB SPEAR “A bearded, genial man with the silhouette of a Buddha, Spear combines the objectivity of scientist, the vision of an artist, the dedica- tion of a teacher, and the patience of some- one who has attained enlightenment. His tanned face is unlined, his demeanor imper- turbable, even in the midst of crises. He is helpful to beginners, whether birders or woodcarvers. ...He climbed Camel's Hump last September at the age of 86. He takes ob- vious pleasure in showing visitors through the museum. The 2006 Governor’s Heritage Award honoring him as a ‘traditional artist’ summarized his vocation this way: ‘Building public awareness of nature—through advoca- cy, outreach, research, organization-building, ion irat and, of course, woodcarving—has been insp nd a an le a was eop e Bob's life work.’” He ny p o th ma o t so her s to per per —Mel Huff, Vermont Today, April 2007 su cam true of eds ho ndr s w hu dent m stu useu and e M d th b’s isite . Bo v ear h y ds eac bir for l ve tura lo na the t a ng and lef alo has acy orld leg . w able oad ark w R rem Hollo an n erm erti Sh Gu —Kim

WINTER 7 2015

TEACHER, CARVER, AND SO MUCH MORE

ety e vari all th ut for “B , it is s work is life’ of h is with h elded all w , his spirit finable and unde ature e of n mbrac see otal e t just t oes no t. He d er- ermon d und V hes an e touc ve ings, h ho ha th dults w em. A nds th that. sta know ith him alked w iked t have h n who hildre d stay C it an sense ith him birds w d his im An e to h s clos erhap are p rmont of Ve gs s feelin all hi where e.” on, e shap Johns tak les W Char 1 — , 198 nt Life Vermo Volume 29 8 2015 VOLUNTEERS! CLASSES, BIRDS & MORE During 2014, the ’s volunteer list swelled to 75 people, including local A BOUQUET OF FEATHERS Friday, February 27 • Rotarians and youth groups, families, and individuals. 10:30am – 5:00pm A quick calendar survey revealed that this past year, Vermont Flower Show’s Family Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays were the most Room, Champlain Valley Expo common volunteer work days at the Museum. Make a bouquet of paper feathers! Our volunteers put in over 1200 hours of heavy lifting Craft with us and get ready for spring. and hauling of construction materials from Birding and feeding tips too: just ask! overflowing storage sheds; cleaning and cooking Included with admission again and again for many ongoing and special occasions; connecting to the community through BIRD MONITORING WALKS outreach programs for libraries and local Last Saturdays, February 28, March 28, April 25, May 30 • organizations; controlling honeysuckle and 8:00am (7:30am in May) blackberry sprawl as well as designing, digging, and Experienced birders lead a monthly walk on the Museum planting our new pollinator gardens; creating and property. End the walk with cocoa, coffee and tea at the installing an array of outdoor signs; making repairs to Bird Viewing Window inside the Museum. trail structures and birdfeeders; skillfully replacing Most fun for adults, older children, and somewhat more the workshop door and the Museum mailbox experienced birders. Please bring your own binoculars and support; constructing and positioning safety barriers dress for the weather. around the flooded walkway damage; carving Diorama ducks and carving or crocheting Free • Please pre-register birds for flood fundraisers; fashioning popsicle stick WREN CARVING CLASS soap carving tools; leading bird walks and Big Sits; with DAVID TUTTLE welcoming and engaging Museum visitors; serving as Saturday, February 28 • 9:00am – facilitators and Museum representatives at festivals 3:00pm and off-site events; donating and pricing used books in the workshop at the Museum to add to our fundraising efforts; gift wrapping books Carve and paint a wren . Wood at Barnes & Noble’s annual holiday fundraiser or blank, eyes, snacks, and coffee selling gift shop items at the Richmond holiday provided. No carving experience market; writing articles for the newsletter or blog, or required! Bring tools and gloves if reviews to tourist networks; dedicating many hours you can or let us know. Great for teens and adults. Please of time, discussion, and support on behalf of the bring your lunch. Museum as Board members; and helping in myriad $25 for Museum and GMWC members • $35 for everyone ways to prepare and host Bob’s memorial gathering. else • Please pre-register Bob Spear’s spirit and passion created an incredible legacy. Our volunteers bring that same spirit and BIRDS of a FIBER: passion to every task they tackle. The Museum’s 2015 Community Art Show Sunday, March 1: Submissions due mission and voice are stronger than ever thanks to all our volunteers! Saturday, March 21: Acceptances go out Interested in joining the (work) party on April 11? We always appreciate willing hands and established April: Install/hang works (volunteers welcome!) or yet-to-be-discovered talents. Please check our website, subscribe to the events calendar, or Friday, May 1: Show opens! contact the Museum to sign up .

Email us at [email protected] Please call (802) 434-2167 to pre-register with any questions or comments. and to confirm times (sometimes they change). WINTER 9 2015 EVENTS, WINTER – SPRING 2015 VOLUNTEER WORK PARTY LIVE BIRDS with CRAIG NEWMAN Saturday, April 11 • 10:00am – 2:00pm Sunday, May 17 • Time TBD Get in shape with a one-day intensive mostly-trail work Share a visit to the Museum with Craig Newman and some event? You help, we feed you! Lots to do, indoors and out. live birds from Outreach for Earth Stewardship. Who will come today: an owl, a hawk, a ... ? All welcome • Please-pre-register (so we make enough sandwiches) SUNDAYS for FLEDGLINGS: KIDS + BIRDS = FUN EASTERN BLUEBIRD FELTING CLASS Will resume in May • 2 – 3pm with SUSI RYAN Sunday, April 19 • 1:00pm – 3:00pm Birds from feathers to flying, from art to zoology. Kids can earn a Junior Birder Badge! Perfect for kids aged 5-9 Celebrate spring and birds returning (siblings welcome). with your own small bluebird. Susi Ryan of The Felted Gnome Knows Free with admission, donations welcome will guide 4-8 participants in the craft of felting a a bluebird you can hang. STORYTIME in the NESTLINGS NOOK Second Tuesdays, May – $35 (includes materials) • Minimum October • 10:30 – 11:30am age: 8 (felting needles are sharp!) Maximum enrollment: 8 people • Please pre-register Stories of birds followed by a craft project, music, or nature OPENING DAY for 2015 SEASON walk. Ideal for pre-schoolers but Friday, May 1 • 10:00am – 4:00pm all ages are welcome. Enjoy our opening day and the return to daily hours. Free with admission Discover new exhibits and reacquaint yourself with old favorites. Go birding from the Treehouse! OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS We’ll be at Herrick’s Cove Wildlife Festival at the beginning Regular admission (Free for members!) of May—a long and wonderful day, volunteers welcome there and at the Museum. Even more classes, walks, carvings EARLY BIRDERS MORNING WALKS and talks are in the works! Sundays, May—June • 7:00am – 9:00am Join other birders for an early morning ramble in our forest and THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS, meadows every Sunday from early INDOORS? May through June. Listen and watch for returning migrants, year-round Devices, coding, and printing wanted residents. No birding experience Wish list: donate your old smartphone, tablet, or the like necessary; please bring binoculars. to the Museum! We have dozens of ways to use these. Free, donations welcome • Indoor bird songs: Help needed to replace iFlyer barcode Pre-registration is helpful but not required system with scannable codes that let smartphone and tablet users hear bird song and calls via the Maccauley library recordings. Get in touch with Kir Talmage at the Museum if you are intrigued. We’re online! Like, share, subscribe, follow, or tweet Volunteer /Intern app builder: We have ideas, a little skill, to us at any time. and not enough time. Can you code? Email Kir at [email protected] if you want to check out this project.

All events are at the Birds of Vermont Museum Check our website for updates and additions: unless noted otherwise. http://www.birdsofvermont.org/events.php Volume 29 10 2015

CARVING REPORT A BRIEF HISTORY OF Dick Allen is working on a Canvasback Drake, and TRUSTEES once Matt Strong’s wood shop warms back up he will A non-profit institution must have a Board, both for continue working on a female Merganser. We’re legal requirements and to create a fully functioning incredibly excited to see these! organization. For a small organization, an active, passionate Board is essential. The Board of Trustees for the Birds of Vermont Museum is and has been exceptional. Its members’ hard work, dedication, ideas, and time ensure the Museum’s existence and growth. Looking back over the years, there were times when there were no paid staff members andall the work was done by volunteers and Board remembers. Over the years the Board guided the Museum’s changes and growth. It continues to do so.

Canvasback Drake, unpainted (Dick Allen photo) We cannot thank you all enough. Who are those “all”? In alphabetical order (names in BIRDING REPORT bold are individuals who served as president): Our favorite bird story recently is this: in the days Adams, David (2006-2009) Laughlin, Sally (1993) around Bob’s memorial service, a barred owl took up Allen Dick (2007- 2015) Lawrence, Gale (1986-1990) temporary watch outside Gale’s house. Staff and Bailey, Cinda (1986 -1989) Letsinger, Mary Kay (1988- visitors noticed it hunting along the stone wall, Bailey, Peter (1986-1989) 1989) preening on a pine bough, and hunting along the verge Claghorn, David (1993-2000) Lowe, Jackie (2006-2007) of the meadow. Coman, Patricia (2000-2002) Lubkowitz, Ginger (2015) We keep a fairly informal record of birds seen at the Coon, Judy (1993-1995) Marshall, Elaine (1990-1995) Museum on our blog, at Cozzens, Becky (1988-2015) Marshall, Ray (1990-1995) http://bovm.wordpress.com/?s=Through+the+Window Davis, Deborah (Raven) Mayville, Bill (2011-2015) Bird monitoring walk records are uploaded to (1986-1988) Mayville, Mae (2008-2015) Vermont eBird at http://ebird.org/content/vt/ . Everts, Ed (1986-1988) Mixer, Dick (1990-1992) Frazier, Charlie (2000-2002) Osborn, Jim (2004-2015) We encourage you all to keep an eye on these, since Hackett, Stephen (1995) Page, Stephen (2005-2009) they generally are updated several times between Handy, Jane (1990-1994) Passmore, Allen (1993) newsletters. Hansen, Marty (1988-2011) Pruitt, Tom (1991-1996) Harvey, Moe (1991-1993) Quintin, June (2001-2004) TRAVELING LIBRARY EXHIBITS Hedlund, Charles (2002-2004) Reynolds, Craig (1996-2014) Looking for a special topic for your local library? Huyler, Jane (1990-1992) Russell, Mary Jane (2005- Reserve a traveling display! Incerpi, Angelo (2001-2014) 2007) What is A Bird? : From Owls : Mysteries of Jervis, Bob (2000-2004) Simmons, William (1996- eggs to feathers, unique nocturnal, winged hunters Johnson, Bob (2000-2007) 2002) characteristics make a bird Perilous Passages: the Johnson, Charles (2005-2007) Spear, Bob (1986-2014) Migration : Why, where, Passenger Pigeon : Johnson, Shirley (2004 -2015) Spear, Kari Jo (2010-2015) and how Abundance, , Kelley, Jason (1995-1997) Steady, Pat (1992) and why Cold Winters, Warm Kellogg, Dick (1990-1991) Sunshine, David (1991-2015) Birds : You can’t stay warm Woodcarving : Tools and Lambert, Bobbie (1994-1996) Valentine, Brian (2010-2015) with bare feet in snow, can techniques, from blanks to Landa, Jeff (2005-2007) Van Der Vliet, Dann (2007- you? lifelike birds Lapointe, Frank (1988) 2014) WINTER 11 2015

SHE LEADS, HE LEADS Shirley Johnson was no stranger to birds, conservation, and Vermont when she joined the Birds of Vermont Museum’s board in 2004. In addition to volunteering for the Museum, she served on the Board of Audubon Vermont for over 10 years, and is currently on the Board of the Green Mountain Audubon Society and helps coordinate the Burlington Christmas Bird Count. Since joining the Birds of Vermont Museum, she has helped the Museum in countless ways. From small errands to strategic vision, a thousand things get done, and done well. In addition to clearing trails, inventorying the gift shop, speaking of her birding adventures, cleaning het Museum, finding interns, leading bird walks, and being an advocate for the Museum, she took on the role of President of the Board in May 2007. At that time, she was told it would be “just until November.” Nine years of leadership later, Shirley decided it was time to step down. As she said, it is time for new ideas. Luckily for us, Shirley will still be an active Board member and has agreed to be Board Secretary (this relieves Becky Cozzens, who has been filling that role since 1988!). We are very grateful to Shirley’s leadership the past few years, grateful she is merely shifting her role, not stepping away, and–most of all–we are grateful for her deep friendship and commitment toward not only us, but to the whole of Vermont’s natural world.

If someone had told Bill Mayville ten years that he would become the Board President of a non-profit Incoming Board President Bill Mayville and outgoing President focused on bird conservation he would have never Shirley Johnson believed them. At that point, his life was mostly family, work, and football. Unbeknownst to him, his wife ventured to different places, and Bill joined Mae on Mae’s classes with Michelle Patneaude would soon these outings, including visiting the Birds of Vermont affect his life in new and exciting ways. Students Museum. Bill says he “just fell in love with the place”, and was Many Thanks To: especially enthralled by the bird viewing window. After that the couple started birding. Bill recounted the day ♦ Bob Spear he first met Gale—and his first Blackburnian Warbler. ♦ Northeast Delta Dental, for sponsoring Chip Notes “It was fun, back then, everything was a life bird.” ♦ Ben & Jerry’s (for the ice cream served at the memorial These days, Bill and Mae are spotted on bird walks, service for Bob) attending bird talks, and peering through binoculars all ♦ Angelo Incerpi, Dann Van Der Vliet, and Craig over Vermont. The couple also chooses most travel Reynolds destinations based solely on the birds they might see. ♦ Stewart Kirkaldy Even during a recent trip to Florida to see the family, ♦ George W. Mergens Foundation they still snuck in time to get two life birds. ♦ Jane Vossler, Velma Plouffe, and the Community Mae joined the Birds of Vermont Museum’s Board Senior Center in 2008, and Bill joined in 2011. They are both tireless ♦ Beaudry’s Store advocates of the Museum and volunteer in myriad ♦ Jane and Candace Adelson, Alice Seidenberg, Dick ways. Park, and Rich Melnick Bill became president of the Board in December 2014. ♦ Michaela Stickney During recent planning discussions of upcoming meet- ♦ Jeff Landa ings Bill promised to attend them all, “unless there is a ♦ Bryan Pfeiffer rare bird that I have to go see.” Birds of Vermont Museum

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April 11 Volunteer Work Party Party Work Volunteer 11 April Ginger Lubkowitz Becky Cozzens Kari Jo Spear Spear Jo Kari Cozzens Becky Lubkowitz Ginger

Dick Allen Mae Mayville James Osborn Osborn James Mayville Mae Allen Dick

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Shirley Johnson, Secretary Secretary Johnson, Shirley

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William Mayville, President President Mayville, William

SAVE THE DATES DATES THE SAVE Board of Trustees 2015 2015 Trustees of Board