Field Guide to March 2024
March is a month of battles between warm and cold, between winter’s refusal to leave and spring’s insistence on arriving. So, here are some signs of spring to look out for this month.
Field Guide to February 2024
This month, wildlife and the rest of us here in New England will cross a significant threshold: 10 hours of daylight. You can sense it when you head out in the morning. Even though we’ve got lots more winter, at least the sound of spring is in the air. So here’s a Field Guide to February to keep your hopes up all day long.
Field Guide to November 2023
“Stick Season,” as we call this gray, leafless time in New England, is anything but lifeless. With November comes the rushed activity of wildlife either preparing for their winter stay or leaving Vermont for their winter location. There is a sense of fall finality as the last deciduous trees drop their leaves. November also hails some of Vermont’s winter migrants, coming just in time to catch the first flakes. Learn more in our Field Guide to November.
Field Guide to October 2023
The month of October reminds us of the cyclical nature of life. Like spring, autumn is a season of change. The forested hills fade from summer emerald to a watercolor painting of red and gold and brown. Here’s your field guide to some moments that you might not otherwise notice during these few precious weeks that feature colored hills beneath a deep blue sky, with the calls of migrating geese high overhead and the last Monarchs gliding silently southward.
Field Guide to September 2023
It can happen almost anywhere. On a cool, foggy morning, when fall warblers drop from their nocturnal migratory flights into your backyard. Or on a hilltop when the Broad-winged Hawks circling above and Monarchs gliding southward convince you that summer is indeed coming to a close. Here is your field guide to some life on the move in September.
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.
Field Guide to August 2023
The dog days of summer are here, hot and sultry. The Romans referred to this time of year as the days of the dog star, when Sirius appears in the sky just before the sun and marks the hottest days of summer. Read all about August’s natural wonders in this month’s field guide.
Field Guide to July 2023
The avian breeding season is winding down. Even a few southbound shorebirds will trickle through the region this month on their “fall” migration. But as the dawn bird chorus fades from northern woodlands, fields and wetlands erupt in the sparkle and drama of summer insects. Here’s a short guide to some of the other glitter now on the wing.
Field Guide to June 2023
Here in Vermont, we dream of June during the darkest days of January. Verdant wooded hillsides glowing brightly under a robin egg sky. Warm afternoon breezes rolling through the valleys as we lounge by the clear waters of a cold river. The chorus of birds waking us each morning. June is a dream here. Its days last forever.
After Two Decades of Searching, Biologist Discovers Rare Butterfly in Vermont
A rare and elusive butterfly has been discovered for the first time in Vermont, flying this spring at one of the state’s protected natural areas. Bog elfin, patterned in brown and rust, and no bigger than a penny, had eluded detection in the state until one flew past a Vermont field biologist who had been searching for it for two decades.
