Posts by Kent McFarland 
Birdathon 2014: By foot and float yields over 100 species
The VCE team opted for our customary low-carbon Birdathon this spring, but swapped hiking boots and mountain bikes for water shoes and kayaks/canoes. This all but quashed the possibility of…
From Barely a Peep to a Cacophony
It’s a warm spring evening. The sun has set. Down in the valley, there is a chorus erupting, and up on the hill in a pond, another is just beginning….
April Photo-observation of the Month Winner
The iNaturalist Vermont April photo-observation of the month by popular vote was The Scribbler. The caterpillars of this tiny geometrid moth feed on alders, birches, maples, and willows. The adults…
Boreal Birds Need Half
One of the world’s greatest migrations is happening now. Billions of migratory birds are heading from the U.S., Central and South America to what’s been dubbed “North America’s bird nursery”…
Please Give Nesting Bald Eagles Space
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is asking bird-watchers to give nesting bald eagles a hand this spring by enjoying them from a safe distance. Bald eagles are slowly recovering…
Back from the Nearly Dead
Just a few days ago they were frozen rock hard, a frog-sicle. But today, they are barking up a storm in the pond. They’re back from the nearly dead. Late last…
March Photo-observation of the Month
It seems that Vermont iNaturalists are behaving like the weather. They just can’t let go of winter. The March winner was an amazing shot of a Snowy Owl at the…
Results of New Hampshire Bat Hibernacula Surveys Dismal
Recent surveys for bats in New Hampshire hibernacula, places where bats spend the winter, resulted in biologists finding a total of only 28 bats, with two formerly very common species…
Vote for the March iNaturalist Vermont Observation of the Month
Here are the candidates for the March iNaturalist Vermont observation contest selected by Kyle Jones. Take a look (or listen!) to each one and vote by replying to this post…
Grassland Birders Sought to be ‘out standing in the field’ This Summer
Birders across New England are invited to greet the sunrise and enjoy the tumbling song of the bobolink on clear mornings this Spring and Summer in open fields, conducting bird…
February Photo-observation of the Month Winner
February’s theme was “food” and the photo-observations submitted to iNaturalist Vermont, a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life, were quite a banquet. Marv Elliot’s shot of a Merlin standing…
Vermont Biologists Continue in Race Against Time to Save Bats
Although Vermont’s populations of cave-dwelling bat species continue to drastically shrink in number every year, the rate of decline may be slowing down. Biologists with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife…
