![Searching for Butterflies: The West Virginia White](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-14-280x200.png)
Searching for Butterflies: The West Virginia White
As VCE’s Spatial Science Intern, I spent my summer working with community science observations from several platforms, such as eButterfly and iNaturalist, to create a species distribution model for the West Virginia White in the state. This model incorporated bioclimatic variables and host-plant distributions to reveal areas within Vermont that may be suitable for these butterflies today and into the future.
![Building an Automated Moth Monitoring Network](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Moth-AI-set-up-280x200.jpg)
Building an Automated Moth Monitoring Network
How are moth populations faring in Vermont? Except for a few species, no one really knows. A few years ago, VAL teamed up with community scientists, biologists, engineers, and computer scientists from around the world to change that. Now, we are poised to understand moths like never before.
![Forest Bird Monitoring Data Dashboard Goes Live](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-2-280x200.png)
Forest Bird Monitoring Data Dashboard Goes Live
For over 30 years, VCE has coordinated the Vermont Forest Bird Monitoring Program to track the long-term population trends of interior forest birds. The backbone of this project is the dedicated corps of volunteer birders. The data these hardy birders collect are invaluable in tracking the status of forest songbirds. Now, the FBMP has a Data Dashboard where anyone can explore and interact with FBMP data and view up-to-date results.
![VCE is Abuzz with High-impact Bee Work](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/spencer-hardy-280x200.jpg)
VCE is Abuzz with High-impact Bee Work
For over a decade, VCE has been positively buzzing with activity, surveying far and wide for bee species across the state. Our efforts kicked off with the Bumblebee Atlas in 2012 and reached a crescendo in 2022 with the State of Vermont’s Wild Bees report. Little did we know that this would start a multi-state ripple of pollinator work.
![VPAtlas Places Statewide Vernal Pool Data at Your Fingertips](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Winhall-Vernal-Pool-Steve-Faccio-280x200.jpg)
VPAtlas Places Statewide Vernal Pool Data at Your Fingertips
Conserving sensitive, vitally important ecosystems and natural communities, like vernal pools, is essential to addressing biodiversity loss. However, knowing vernal pools’ locations is a critical first step. The Vernal Pool Atlas (VPAtlas), a joint effort of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, is designed to do just that.
![Reflections from 65 (Collective) Years of Birding the Upper Valley](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/birders-runnemede-october-mist_swallow_tree_cynthiacrawford-280x200.jpg)
Reflections from 65 (Collective) Years of Birding the Upper Valley
Some retirees seek new pursuits in life, branching out and diversifying with their newfound free time. Others simply do more of what they always did. Chris Rimmer and Kyle Jones embody this latter approach, birding local Upper Valley haunts more than ever since their recent retirements. Read their reflections on 65 collective years spent birding the Upper Valley.
![Field Guide to January 2024](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/i-fhzXCJW-X5_2000x1400_acf_cropped-280x200.jpg)
Field Guide to January 2024
Although the days are slowly growing longer, life in the Northeast still finds itself in the depths of winter. January is about survival. Wildlife that doesn’t migrate adapts instead to make it to spring. Here are a few tidbits of natural history happening outdoors this month around you.
![Field Guide to December 2023](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Winter-Sunset_KPMcFarland_2000x1400_acf_cropped-280x200.jpg)
Field Guide to December 2023
Fear not—during December’s short days and long nights, there’s still plenty of life in the fading light. Once we pass the winter solstice, which strikes at 10:27 PM on December 21, more light will creep back. Until then, here’s some wintry natural history to keep you going.
![Vermont eBird Volunteer Data Experts Retire](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IanWorley-CraigProvost-280x200.jpg)
Vermont eBird Volunteer Data Experts Retire
After more than a decade of service, two of the first-ever Vermont eBird volunteer data experts are hanging up their keyboards. Ian Worley and Craig Provost first joined the project in 2010. Over the past 13 years, they have reviewed tens of thousands of records submitted by bird watchers and have been outreach champions for Vermont eBird.
![The Caretakers: Reflections from 40 Years of Loon Volunteers](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/shadow-lake-fish-line-rescue-elinor-osborn-280x200.jpg)
The Caretakers: Reflections from 40 Years of Loon Volunteers
Loon conservation in Vermont is as much a story of people as it is of birds. From the most disheartening days of the state’s loon census in the 1980s through the incredible recovery we’re witnessing today, VCE volunteers on the Vermont Loon Conservation Project have been the beating heart of the stewardship effort.