Help Us Record Painted Lady Butterflies on the Move
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
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
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 Field Guide to September 2017
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
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
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.
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
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.
VCE Director of Science Named Elective Member of American Ornithological Society
John Lloyd, VCE’s Director of Science, was named as an Elective Member of the American Ornithological Society during the Society’s 135th annual meeting in August. Elective Members are selected by their peers for their significant contributions to ornithology or service to the society.
Habitat Selection with a Twist: A Story of Two Opportunistic Loons
VCE summer intern Kirsti Carr recounts her unexpected discovery of a long-abandoned swimming raft that a Common Loon pair used for nesting on Chandler Pond in 2017. She and her Vermont Loon Recovery Project team rehabilitated the raft – easily Vermont’s largest – in late July and hope that the loo pair will approve of its new, improved home for continued successful nesting in 2018.
Take Your iNaturalist Photos to the Next Level
Smartphone cameras are a critical citizen science tool for documenting phenology and species presence, and the primary multimedia format submitted to iNaturalist Vermont. But smartphone cameras are notoriously poor at taking close up photos, and most of us don’t walk around with a digital SLR camera complete with a macro lens. What’s an iNaturalist to do?
July 2017 iNaturalist Vermont Photo-Observation of the Month
Congratulations to Bryan Pfeiffer ln for winning the July 2017 iNaturalist Vermont photo-observation of the month contest. His image of a Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) was the most popular photo-observation as measured by clicked ‘favs’.
