BIRDS OF VERMONT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Founding Director of the Birds of Vermont Museum
Bob Spear was not just the Founding Director of the Birds of Vermont Museum and bird carver. He had many roles throughout his life, and even as others began to carry forward his Museum dream, he remained involved. Into his 80s, he still cut, transported and stacked all the firewood used to heat his workshop. He mowed and maintained the trails on the 100 acres of property, providing access to a rich variety of habitats and animal species. Even his 90s, Bob assisted with the butterfly gardens, the large and small ponds, and the bird feeder area. He also continued to carve-when he was not watching the birds in and around the feeders, ponds, meadows, and forest.
Bob Spear was born in 1920 in Burlington, Vermont. In his youth his parents encouraged him to explore the world of nature around him. His early years were spent in Massachusetts where his family moved when his mother was unable to find a teaching job in Vermont. (At the time, they would not hire married women as teachers.) She found work in Wyben, teaching in a one-room school house, and Bob was her student for 6 years. Bob drew and painted as a youngster and even learned to do taxidermy by age 12.
After his mother's untimely death when Bob was just 14, the family moved back to Vermont to the family farm in Colchester. Here he continued his self-education as a naturalist, specializing in birds. Here too, at age 18, Bob carved his first birds modeled after a stray parakeet that flew into their shed. For the rest of his life, he carved, painted, and taught others about birds.
Erin earned her MS in Wildlife Biology from UVM with a focus on ornithology. She serves on two Vermont Scientific Advisory Groups, Birds and Reptiles-and-Amphibians. When not at the Museum, she can often be found looking for salamanders for the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, collecting data for iNaturalist and eBird, or volunteering with the Four Winds Nature Institute and Vermont Master Naturalists. She is the primary photographer behind our Instagram feed and is never far from her bird-friendly coffee.
Job Titles:
- Outreach & IT Coordinator
Bob Spear, woodcarver, naturalist, and founder. Crafted or inspired almost every exhibit.
Ingrid Riga Rhind curator, carver, creator of the overhead bird exhibit, contributor to several exhibits and raffles