VCE Blog

A Lost Loon's Saga Ends Well on the Maine Coast

A Lost Loon’s Saga Ends Well on the Maine Coast

From a roadside in Vermont to oceanside in Maine, completes her “trilogy” of blog posts about the wayward Common Loon she discovered in August.

A tentative first step towards saving Sierra de Bahoruco

A tentative first step towards saving Sierra de Bahoruco

Sierra de Bahoruco National Park, in the southwest corner of the Dominican Republic, is arguably one of the world’s most…

Vermont Fish & Wildlife Dept Announces Strategic Plan to Conserve Wildlife

Vermont Fish & Wildlife Dept Announces Strategic Plan to Conserve Wildlife

MONTPELIER, Vt. – The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has released a draft Wildlife Action Plan that lays out the…

Sex, Drugs and Bees: plant chemistry and pollinators

Sex, Drugs and Bees: plant chemistry and pollinators

Many plants rely on flower visits by pollinators such as bees in order to reproduce. When bees consume nectar and…

Long Live the Queen!

Long Live the Queen!

Each year in the bumble bee kingdom, only a queen will carry the colony’s torch through winter to produce the next generation. Everyone else – workers, drones, and the old queen – dies with the onset of fall frost.

September iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month

September iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month

Congratulations to Susan Elliott for winning the contest with her image of an Autumn Meadowhawk.

eButterfly Visits the White House

eButterfly Visits the White House

This week eButterfly co-director and VCE research associate Katy Prudic is at the White House in Washington, D.C. where she was invited to a small White House conference called Open Science and Innovation: Of the People, By the People, For the People.

Outdoor Radio: In Search of the Endangered Timber Rattlesnake

Outdoor Radio: In Search of the Endangered Timber Rattlesnake

This month on Outdoor Radio biologists Kent McFarland and Sara Zahendra head to western Vermont in search of the endangered Eastern Timber Rattlesnake.

Bicknell's and Blues Highlight VCE Wrap-up Mansfield Visit

Bicknell’s and Blues Highlight VCE Wrap-up Mansfield Visit

VCE’s 2015 wrap-up visit to our long-term Mt. Mansfield study site featured a strong showing by Bicknell’s Thrushes and Black-throated Blue Warblers.

Common Loon feeding chick

Common Loons and Peregrine Falcons Post Record Breeding Season in Vermont

Ten years after they were removed from Vermont’s endangered species list, two of Vermont’s most cherished bird species continued to expand their populations in 2015. Loons and peregrine falcons both nested in record numbers this summer.

Plight of the Grassland Birds

Plight of the Grassland Birds

From the fields of New England and Canada to the vast plains of Montana to the deserts of Mexico, grassland birds are losing their habitats at an alarming rate. VCE is co-hosting a special pre-screening of this documentary on Thursday, September 24th at 7 pm in the Moore Psychology Building at Dartmouth College, Room B023.

Unsolved (Murder?) Mysteries on the Canadian Border: The case of two loon disappearances

Unsolved (Murder?) Mysteries on the Canadian Border: The case of two loon disappearances

Summer is often the time people head to the beach or hammock to read stories that take them away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. And this summer, even loons were part of the mystery stories.

August iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month

August iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month

Congratulations to Roy Pilcher for winning the August 2015 iNaturalist Vermont photo-observation of the month contest.

A Wayward Loon's Rescue: Update No. 1

A Wayward Loon’s Rescue: Update No. 1

The rescued Common Loon chick — nick-named “Little Guy” — is making progress at a rehab center in Maine.

From Roadside to Rescue: A Tale of Determination and a Lost Loon

From Roadside to Rescue: A Tale of Determination and a Lost Loon

A chance encounter on a Vermont roadside — and the uplifting story of an errant Common Loon chick.

Vermont eBird Update

Vermont eBird Update

A lot of exciting developments have happened recently with Vermont eBird and we wanted to share those with you, as well as express our gratitude and appreciation for all that you Vermont eBirders have helped bring to life.

Historic Spring Bird Sightings Digitized at Record Pace

Historic Spring Bird Sightings Digitized at Record Pace

Just over 3 months ago we announced an exciting new web site that allowed us to connect with volunteers virtually to help us enter thousands of historic bird records that only existed on paper. Volunteers have digitized thousands of pages of spring bird records. We’re 90% done. The final push is on!

VCE Embraces Open Science

VCE Embraces Open Science

A mostly quiet revolution is taking place in science. Only fragments of the debate have surfaced in the popular media, and even many scientists appear largely unaware of the impending sea change.

Composting and Bears: Adjusting to Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law

Composting and Bears: Adjusting to Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law

Bears may be attracted to human food sources, so a few steps must be taken to reduce problems between bears and people.

Rainbows and Slug Sex

Rainbows and Slug Sex

Double rainbows and slug copulation constitute our light, summertime blog viewing this week. We’re not claiming the two are related (but we’re not ruling it out, either).

An Historic Collaboration for Birds on Hispaniola

An Historic Collaboration for Birds on Hispaniola

An historic collaboration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic promises to build a better future for bird conservation on Hispaniola.

Mountain Birds and Jail Birds: Another Season of Mountain Birdwatch

Mountain Birds and Jail Birds: Another Season of Mountain Birdwatch

Trees fall over trails. Bridges wash out. Gullies form and block routes. During Mountain Birdwatch, these are trivialities … compared to a couple of escaped convicts.

Positively Vermont: Vermont Endangered Species

Positively Vermont: Vermont Endangered Species

Host Dennis McMahon talks to Steve Parren, Wildlife Diversity Program Manager for VT Fish and Wildlife Department, who has been working on endangered and threatened species projects for over 30 years.

July iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month

July iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month

Congratulations to Julie Filiberti for winning the July 2015 iNaturalist Vermont photo-observation of the month contest.

Streamertails and Jamaica - VCE Attends BirdsCaribbean Meeting

Streamertails and Jamaica – VCE Attends BirdsCaribbean Meeting

VCE played a prominent role in the recent BirdsCaribbean meeting on Jamaica. The five-day conference also afforded a chance to see 20 of Jamaica’s 30 endemic birds.

Illegal Deforestation Continues in the Dominican Republic

Illegal Deforestation Continues in the Dominican Republic

Sierra de Bahoruco National Park is a vital haven for some of the rarest endemic birds in the Caribbean Basin. But its cloud-forest habitat is being illegally logged and cleared for crops. And conservationists say the government of the Dominican Republic is doing little to stop it.

Help Find Missing Turtles

Help Find Missing Turtles

Painted Turtles are one of our most common turtle species. Yet, there are 64 towns without a verified Painted Turtle observation.

State to Hold Meeting on Proposed Endangered Species Law Updates

State to Hold Meeting on Proposed Endangered Species Law Updates

The Agency of Natural Resources will hold a meeting to discuss proposed changes to Vermont’s threatened and endangered species law. The meeting will take place August 5, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. at the Pavilion Auditorium, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vt.

Summer Banding on Mansfield Ends with a Flourish

Summer Banding on Mansfield Ends with a Flourish

VCE’s July 20-21 Mt. Mansfield banding session capped another productive field season, our 24th studying the ridgeline’s breeding bird community….

VT Fish & Wildlife Dept Celebrates Opening of New Conserved Lands

VT Fish & Wildlife Dept Celebrates Opening of New Conserved Lands

More land in Western Addison County will soon be available to the public, and protected for wildlife. The public is invited to attend a celebration of the Lemon Fair Wildlife Management Area, and the 330 acres being added to it, on Tuesday, July 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.