VINS Nature Center
Sanctuary · Quechee, Vermont
A forty-seven acre campus at Quechee run by the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, built around seventeen large enclosures holding hawks, eagles, falcons, owls, vultures and ravens - birds that came in injured, were treated, and cannot be released. It is an avian rehabilitation hospital first and a visitor attraction second, which is the right order and shows: the birds on display are the ones that did not recover enough to go, and the staff talk about them as patients. There are exhibit spaces, three quarters of a mile of interpretive trail, and daily programmes where a raptor is brought out and explained.
149 Natures Way, Quechee, Vermont, 05059, United States
Open DAILY, YEAR ROUND, generally 10am to 4pm, with a per-person admission and free parking on site. Phone 802-359-5000. ⚠ TIME YOUR VISIT AROUND THE DAILY LIVE RAPTOR PROGRAMME rather than around the opening hours - a bird brought out on the glove and explained by the people who treat it is the best part of the visit, it runs to a published daily schedule, and arriving at a convenient hour and hoping is how visitors miss it. ⚠ THERE IS NO PUBLIC FEEDING SPECTACLE: this is an avian rehabilitation hospital and the raptors are fed on a veterinary schedule out of view. The birds on display are those too injured to be released. The site is 47 acres with seventeen enclosures, four exhibit spaces and ¾ of a mile of interpretive trail - ⚠ ALLOW NINETY MINUTES TO TWO HOURS; it is not a zoo-scale day out. ⚠ IT IS NOT QUECHEE GORGE, which is about a kilometre away, free, and a separate destination - the two are routinely confused. ⚠ SATNAVS OFTEN RESOLVE THE ADDRESS TO WHITE RIVER JUNCTION; Quechee is a village in the town of Hartford.
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