The current sixth mass extinction, one of the biggest and most devastating problems of our time, can be difficult to envision. Seven Vermont and New Hampshire artists — Heidi Broner, Susan Bull Riley, Linda Mirabile, Adelaide Murphy Tyrol, Susan Parmenter, Gabriel Tempesta and Ann Young — do so admirably in “A Critical Balance,” a traveling exhibition currently on view at North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier. The show features paintings of birds found in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, all of which are endangered or threatened. Each artist renders the avians in their own style, but all pay close attention to realistic detail, down to the feather. Many of the pieces are life-size, and the creatures portrayed — from Egyptian vultures to a secretary bird to a saddle-bill stork — aren’t gone yet but look downright Cretaceous. Information about each species accompanies the art, and visitors are encouraged to learn more through the Biodiversity Research Institute, which conducts research and conserves wildlife in Amboseli.

‘A Critical Balance’ On view through June 26 at North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier.

This article appears in Animal Issue • 2026.

Alice Dodge joined Seven Days in April 2024 as visual arts editor and proofreader. She earned a bachelor's degree at Oberlin College and an MFA in visual studies at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She previously worked at the Center for Arts...