ATTENTION: Exhibit changeover is taking place beginning Monday, March 17 through Thursday, March 27. The ground floor of the museum will be impacted. Bellwether: The Art of Tina Mullen remains open with FREE ADMISSION. Gift shop and Nature Trail is open. Thank you for your patience as we bring you a new exhibition.
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The Spark Bird Project Goes to NYC

March 13, 2025 5:00 pm   —   March 15, 2025 8:00 pm

Admission is free but space is limited. Click the link below to register for the night you would like to attend.

You’re invited! The Roger Tory Peterson Institute is a proud founding sponsor of The Spark Bird Project. We are heading to New York City to expand the reach of the Project. To gather more Spark Bird Stories. To celebrate the launch of The Spark Bird Project Podcast.

THURSDAY MARCH 13, 2025, 5-7 pm
Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Ave, New York City, NY

The event is free, but space is limited. Please CLICK HERE to reserve your ticket(s.)

Doors open at 5 pm and a short program begins at 6 pm, featuring:

  • Joe Trezza is a birder and journalist whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Audubon Magazine. His birding book, The Big Life, will be released in 2026
  • Jenn Lodi-Smith is Professor of Psychology at Canisius University and Founder of The Spark Bird Project
  • Arthur Pearson is CEO of Roger Tory Peterson Institute and author of the award-winning, Force of Nature, a biography of the founder of The Nature Conservancy

Charcuterie, beer, wine and soft drinks will be provided.

The works of John James Audubon, Roger Tory Peterson and other notable bird artists will be on view

SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2025, 5-8 pm
Stubblefield Photography and Fine Art, Mana Contemporary, Studio 344, 888 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ

There is on-site parking. The building and studio are ADA accessible. They are a short walk (at least for birders) from the Journal Square PATH train.

The event is free, but space is limited. CLICK HERE to reserve your ticket(s.)

Doors open at 5 pm and a short program begins at 6 pm, featuring:

  • Joe Trezza is a birder and journalist whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Audubon Magazine. His birding book, The Big Life, will be released in 2026
  • Jenn Lodi-Smith is Professor of Psychology at Canisius University and Founder of The Spark Bird Project
  • Arthur Pearson is CEO of Roger Tory Peterson Institute and author of the award-winning, Force of Nature, a biography of the founder of The Nature Conservancy

Following the program, guests are invited to participate in A Natural History Scavenger Hunt. This includes 20 impossible – or nearly impossible – questions based on the artwork displayed in the Stubblefield Studio.  Contestants will have 30 minutes to answer the questions using any resources at their disposal including the internet, bribery, coercion, etc.  Prizes and fun guaranteed.

Charcuterie, beer, wine and soft drinks will be provided. The works of John James Audubon, Roger Tory Peterson and other notable bird artists will be on view.

What’s a Spark Bird?

For Roger Tory Peterson, it was a northern flicker. A Spark Bird is a bird that inspires you to become a lifelong lover of birds. With the support of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, The Spark Bird Project is the first social science research effort to explore the essence of the Spark Bird experience, familiar to many of the nation’s 100 million birders.

Share your Story

The more stories, the better the research. The better the results. Learn more about The Spark Bird Project. Sign up to take the survey, to add your story to this cutting-edge initiative.

The Spark Bird Podcast

Sharing stories is at the heart of the Spark Bird experience. The Spark Bird Project Podcast features a growing list of ornithologists, artists, writers, educators and advocates, including:

  • Sara Morris, President American Ornithological Society
  • Scott Weidensaul, Naturalist and Pulitzer-nominated author of more than 30 books, including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds
  • John Muir Laws, Naturalist, Artist leader of the worldwide nature journaling movement
  • Cat Fribley, Executive Director, Birdability
  • Kayla Fisk, Artist/Jewelry Maker “celebrating the diversity found throughout the world of birds”

Arader Galleries Founded in 1971, Arader Galleries is the world’s leading dealer and auction house of Rare Maps, Prints, Rare Books and Watercolors of the 16th through the 19th centuries. We are proud to buy and sell more original Audubon prints than any other firm in the United States. https://aradergalleries.com/.

The Spark Bird Project is an ongoing community science initiative designed to gather, share, and study the stories of people’s passion for birds. Research findings go directly back to community partners to inform their efforts towards inclusively sparking and sustaining birders.

Home to the largest collection of Roger Tory Peterson’s work, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute – located in Jamestown, NY, where Peterson was born and raised – is a museum that harnesses the power of art to illuminate the beauty of nature, to raise awareness of the critical environmental challenges of our time, and to inspire preservation of the earth’s diversity of life.