Mansfield Wrap: Molt, Migration, and a Crowd-Pleasing Owl
VCE’s final 2018 summer banding session on Mt. Mansfield featured a much-anticipated tiny owl, songbirds in heavy flight feather molt, and thoughts about the impending fall migration that will take Bicknell’s Thrush (and VCE biologists) back to Cuba.
Bad Weather Yields Phoebe Bonanza
Bad weather may create memorable birding for humans, but unusual concentrations of grounded migrants typically reflect stressful situations for the birds themselves. Three VCE staff recently experienced an unprecedented and unforgettable gathering of Eastern Phoebes at Lake Runnemede in Windsor.
A Tale of Two Recoveries
It’s extremely rare that banded birds are recovered or re-sighted outside of the immediate area in which they were banded. Imagine VCE’s surprise and excitement upon learning of two “foreign” band recoveries in 2017.
Weather and Blackpolls Storm Mt. Mansfield
VCE completed its 25th consecutive field season on the Mt. Mansfield ridgeline in dramatic fashion, encountering a storm of both weather and migrant birds. We banded a record 46 Blackpoll Warblers, and Bicknell’s Thrushes were vocalizing actively even as we took down our last nets in the gusty rain.
Where the Bobolink Meets the Booby
The Galapagos islands. Fodder for Darwin’s theory of natural selection, home to sea lions and iguanas so “tame” you can nearly shake hands, and the dream destination for wildlife-watchers who seek its famous specialized finches and the Blue-footed Booby. Add to the list: Bobolink.
A Field Guide to March 2015
On Friday, March 20th at 6:45 PM spring arrives in the north. While the sun may be predictable, March weather is not.
A Field Guide to February
On February 5, wildlife and the rest of us here in New England crossed a threshold – arbitrary yet not insignificant: 10 hours of daylight. You can sense it when you head out in the morning: Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Cardinals and European Starlings are among birds breaking out into song. Even though we’ve got lots more winter, we’ve also got change. So here’s a Field Guide to February.
‘Green wave’ explains migratory bird routes
1.7 million crowd-sourced bird checklists from eBird used to construct a detailed picture of species occurrence for each week of…
December eNews
The December edition of VCE’s eNews features snowy owls arriving, peregrine falcons dying, and vernal pools being conserved. If you’re…
Counting Snow Geese
By Ian Worley The first autumn snowfall in Vermont is the landing of Snow Geese in the Champlain Valley. This…
