Mt. Mansfield Yields Avian Surprises
VCE’s seventh weekly visit to our long-term study site on the Mt. Mansfield ridgeline yielded a few avian surprises, including the only Indigo Bunting recorded in 25 years of field work.
Mountain Bird Watch: A Real White Mountain Adventure!
After four weeks (for me) and 11 survey routes later, the Mountain Bird watch (MBW) season has come to an end, but of course not without a few great stories and moments up in the mountains!
Vermont Breeding Loon Population Rises Again
Just when we anticipate that the Common Loon population breeding in Vermont will remain steady, the loons find even more places to nest. Six new nesting pairs and the first nest for Chittenden County have been documented this year.
June 2016 iNaturalist Vermont Photo-observation of the Month
Congratulations to Susan Elliott for winning the June 2016 iNaturalist Vermont photo-observation of the month contest. The image of a White-tailed Deer fawn was the most popular photo-observation as measured by clicked ‘favs’. Visit iNaturalist Vermont, a project…
A Field Guide to July
The spring birding seasons is winding down. But as the dawn bird chorus now fades from our 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 on the wing this month.
A Flower Trap
Support Kent McFarland’s research and other exciting conservation projects by making a donation to Vermont Center for Ecostudies! Learn about other ways to support VCE here. With its foot stuck in a…
A Water Lily’s World
At the height of summer many ponds are covered in lily pads. Moose munch on them. Beaver and muskrat devour them. Deer consider them delicious. But peer a little closer and you’ll find an amazing miniature world inhabiting each floating leaf.
iNaturalist Vermont Flies Past 100,000 Observations
With a tap on his smartphone and a click to submit to iNaturalist Vermont, Charlie Hohn added the 100,000th record on Friday, a beautiful Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid.
Finding Ferns
We found 22 fern species during an iNaturalist Vermont walk with interns and citizen naturalists on a two-hour tour of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Led by VCE’s Kent McFarland and Park ecologist, Kyle Jones, the group was able to document 17 of those with photos in iNaturalist Vermont, a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life.
A Ghost in the Making Released Online
A Ghost in the Making: Searching for the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee, an enchanting short film about the disappearance of the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee and one man’s journey to find out what’s happened to it, is now available to watch online.
Vermont iNaturalist Discovers a New Population of a Rare Dragonfly
As a novice photographer, James Welch enjoys documenting the biodiversity he sees around his home turf. With his camera in hand while walking his dog last week, Welch stumbled upon a rare find.
Mansfield Update: Hardy Survivors and a Site-faithful Sharpie
After forced cancellation of a planned field trip to Mt. Mansfield in early June, when wind chills on the ridgeline plummeted to 14 degrees F, VCE returned on June 15-16. The avian chorus was subdued, but the hardiness of resident birds was evident. A male Sharp-shinned Hawk banded in 2013 was a surprise returnee in our nets.
