Highlights from the 40th Vermont Bird Records Committee Report
November 18, 2021The Vermont Bird Records Committee (VBRC) held its 40th annual meeting in November 2020. Each year, this panel of experienced birders meets to discuss rare bird reports, out-of-season reports, and rare nesting reports submitted by birders from across the state. Learn More on the VCE Blog »
VBRC Announces New Online Rare Bird Reporting Form
March 14, 2017The Vermont Bird Records Committee (VBRC) is pleased to announce a new online form with media uploading for reporting observations of rare, out-of-season, and rare nesting bird species in the state. The tool was created for the committee by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Learn more on the Vermont eBird Blog »
Red-tailed Hawks: Recognizing and Reporting Subspecies in Vermont
February 27, 2017How often have you looked at a ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawk on a roadside pole, a nearby tree, or soaring overhead, and wondered aloud about how it just looks different … or wondered if it even was a Red-tail? We all know that Vermont’s most familiar hawk comes in different sizes, shades, and plumage patterns. But is it just different individuals, ages, and sexes, or could it be birds from different, recognizable subspecies? Learn more on the Vermont eBird Blog »
The 2016 Vermont eBird County Quest Awards
January 10, 2017From a Great Horned Owl on Snake Mountain on January 1st, to Long-tailed Ducks at the South Hero Causeway on December 31st, Vermont birders scoured fields and fens, mountains and meadows, lakes and lawns to discover as many species as possible during the 6th annual Vermont eBird County Quest. Read more »
Birdwatchers Post Big Data to Vermont eBird
January 02, 2017This year marks the 14 year anniversary of Vermont eBird, the first state portal for eBird. In just a decade-and-a-half, the bird checklists that bird watchers have shared have helped make Vermont eBird, a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life, the largest citizen science biodiversity project in the state and around the world. Read more »
VBRC 2015 Report: Two New Species for Vermont
December 17, 2015The Vermont Bird Records Committee (VBRC) held its 35th annual meeting in November. The VBRC reviewed 39 detailed reports of rare, out-of-season, and rare nesting species submitted by birdwatchers. Two new species of birds were discovered in Vermont as well as many other notable records. Read the blog »
Off to the Races
January 26, 2015A small number of Vermont birders have been assiduously assigning birds to races over the last few years. Now, we would like to encourage the spread of this among a wider group of birders. Learn more »
Brown Booby at Champlain Bridge
August 23, 2014A Brown Booby was found this morning by New York birder, Gary Chapin. He first spotted it from the Vermont side of the lake perched on some rocks on the NY side, and not sure what it was, decided to cross over the bridge to Crown Point Historic Site to get a closer look where he confirmed it’s ID. At one point he watched as it flew to the Vermont side of the lake to catch a fish, making this the first ever record of the species in Vermont. Like the Brown Pelican that was found on Lake Dunmore earlier this year, the Brown Booby is a coastal species that rarely ventures north of Virginia during the non-breeding season, but which is much less likely to ever be found inland. Read more at Otter Creek Audubon Blog »
Another Unusual Bird Visits Vermont
December 19, 2013WATERBURY CENTER, Vt. - Visitors use busy Route 100 in Waterbury Center to get to and from Stowe and beyond. But shopping and skiing will have to wait; birding is the attraction on this December day."It's a great bird lifer for me, lifer for Joe," said Mayne Hipp of Boston. Hipp jumped in the car with his friend, Joe, at 4 a.m. in Boston and made the three-hour-plus drive hoping to see the northern hawk owl. Read more at WCAX »
One Day, Two Ross's
November 17, 2013At dawn in the ornate village of Chambly, Quebec, at a bulge in the Richelieu River, restless gulls began to take flight. And five restless birdwatchers (many more would come later) began their search, scanning the river for an arctic ghost, the rarest of the rare, a Ross’s Gull. Read more on Bryan Pfeiffer's blog »
Birding in Vermont
November 01, 2006Naturalist Bryan Pfeiffer leads a year-long tour around the state in search of species ranging from common backyard birds to the elusive Spruce Grouse and Bicknell's Thrush. Along the way, he offers tips to make birding fun and successful. Watch Birding in Vermont at VPT »
Japanese Gull a Long Way from Home in Vermont
November 01, 2005A black-tailed gull known as a "Japanese gull" has been seen and photographed in Vermont, thousands of miles from its Asian habitat. Noah Adams talks with Audubon Society member Carl Runge about the sighting, and how the gull may have strayed so far from home. Listen to the story at NPR »
