The VCE Blog

Browse the Blog

Take a Time Out for Turtles: Volunteers Needed for Nesting Beach Clean Up Day

October 3, 2017  |  Vermont Center for Ecostudies

The annual spiny softshell turtle beach cleanup day is on Saturday, October 21, and Vermont Fish & Wildlife is looking for volunteers to help.

VCE Partners with BirdsCaribbean for Post-hurricane Relief

September 27, 2017  |  Chris Rimmer

VCE is partnering with BirdsCaribbean to raise funds for humans and wildlife affected by the succession of devastating hurricanes throughout the Caribbean this season. Please join us in helping get the region back on its feet!

Outdoor Radio: Lake Fairlee Loons

September 25, 2017  |  Kent McFarland

Biologists Kent McFarland, Sara Zahendra and Eric Hanson headed out in canoes to take a look at the nesting sites and check on the loon chick. Join them as we learn the story of the Lake Fairlee loons and how volunteers are helping VCE and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department conserve Vermont’s loon population.

An Emerald Discovered in Victory

September 20, 2017  |  Vermont Center for Ecostudies

Mike Blust and Josh Lincoln had a plan hatched by a fellow naturalist. Hike deep into the forest to a bog in northeast Vermont and find a rare emerald dragonfly that had never been seen in Vermont. Read about their trials and tribulations that led to elation at discovering this beautiful insect for the Vermont Damselfly and Dragonfly Atlas.

Help Us Record Painted Lady Butterflies on the Move

September 18, 2017  |  Kent McFarland

Painted Lady butterflies are flitting about fields, gardens, roadsides and meadows throughout eastern North America and beyond. Like Monarch butterflies, with which they are sometimes confused, Painted Ladies are now…

VCE Paper Sheds Light on Little-known Hispaniolan Endemic

September 14, 2017  |  Chris Rimmer

VCE’s recent peer-reviewed paper on Western Chat-Tanagers from cloud forests of Hispaniola highlights non-breeding home range ecology and nocturnal roosting patterns of this rare, globally vulnerable endemic.

Down Year for Piping Plovers in New Hampshire

September 7, 2017  |  Vermont Center for Ecostudies

t was a difficult summer for the state-endangered and federally threatened Piping Plovers on Hampton and Seabrook beaches this year. This summer, three pairs nested on Hampton Beach, while on Seabrook Beach four pairs of plovers nested. 

A black and orange butterfly with whites on its wings (Monarch) nectaring pink Joe-Pye Weed

A Field Guide to September 2017

August 31, 2017  |  Kent McFarland

Sorry, summer is over, but autumn is spectacular here in the Northeast and wildlife is on the move. So here’s your field guide to some of life on the move in September.

A Record Year for Vermont’s Loons in 2017

August 31, 2017  |  Eric Hanson

This year was another great breeding season for Common Loons in Vermont. The Vermont Loon Conservation Project and it’s volunteers observed a record 97 loon nest attempts with at least 72 successful nests. Learn more…

Vermont Initiates Study of Threatened Eastern Ratsnake

August 29, 2017  |  Vermont Center for Ecostudies

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is cooperating in a three-year study of an isolated population of Eastern Ratsnakes, a species that is listed as ‘Threatened’ under the State’s endangered species law. Read more…

New Study Reveals Population Estimate and Abundance Map for Rare Bicknell’s Thrush in the U.S.

August 21, 2017  |  Kent McFarland

New research by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) has revealed that Bicknell’s Thrush likely have one of the smallest population sizes – about 71,000 adult birds – of any migratory songbird within the contiguous U.S.

Memories of a Summer Bird Banding on Mt. Mansfield

August 18, 2017  |  Vermont Center for Ecostudies

Nate Launer, VCE’s 2017 Alexander Dickey Conservation Intern, shares his reflections on banding birds at our long-term study site on Mt. Mansfield. After five overnight field trips in July and early August, Nate gained proficiency in handling and banding small songbirds like Bicknell’s Thrush and Blackpoll Warbler.