Berkshire Museum Tom Patti Commission 2

Berkshire Backyard

In the Berkshires, forests, fields, lakes and streams provide homes for birds, fish, insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. From bullet beetles and bull frogs to black bears and black-throated blue warblers, there are thousands of species of animals living in this unique environment.

Get to know the many species of Berkshire animals. See how many mammals you can identify. Examine the beautiful, strange and incredibly specialized adaptations of beetles, butterflies, true bugs and other insects. Compare and contrast birds from different habitats, like wetlands, fields, and woodlands.

Practice your animal tracking skills by identifying mammal tracks, listening to bird calls, and studying scat! Pair up insects with magnified pictures of their mouths, eyes, and antennae. Test the flight-worthiness of feathers. Examine different kinds of arthropods (insects and their relatives) with a magnifying glass. Test the pH of everyday liquids, and find out what kind of water Berkshire fish inhabit.

Specimens have come from a variety of sources. Some were purchased at the time the Museum was founded and the exhibits were built, during an era the predates Jacques Cousteau, Animal Planet and IMAX films, when collecting animals for educational purposes was done routinely and was an important means of learning about the natural world. Others have been donated to us through the years, and a very small number have been purchased in recent years.


Explore the natural science collection through hands-on activities and live animal demonstrations. Learn about Citizen Science programs in your “backyard”.


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