Sharing (data) is caring: VCE and open data
We here at VCE think a lot about the value of sharing, and not just during the holidays. With the help of many, including our dedicated corps of citizen-scientists, we collect lots of information about the natural world and try to put it to good use. We do our best to make sure that our data, and the knowledge we gain from it, gets into the hands of the people that need it.
Globetrotting for Grassland Birds
Rosalind Renfrew reports on her two-month journey to South America, where she worked with VCE’s conservation partners to reverse the disturbing population decline among Bobolinks.
“Fracking” and Wildlife: Suds & Science on January 12
Natural gas extraction from shale formations in Appalachia, already a contentious political issue, also raises concerns about habitat loss and the fragmentation and degradation of forest and grassland wildlife habitats. VCE’s Jason Hill reports.
A Field Guide to December
Fear not, during these short days and long nights of December, we’re still finding plenty of life in the fading light. Once we pass the winter solstice more light will begin to creep back into our lives. Until then, here’s some wintry natural history.
iNaturalist Vermont November Photo-observation of the Month
Congratulations to Marv Elliott for winning the November 2015 iNaturalist Vermont photo-observation of the month contest. His image of a Barrow’s Goldeneye among Common Goldeneyes, was the most popular photo-observation as measured by clicked ‘favs’.
Wild Turkey Confidential: On Supper and Snoods
So how did you choose your turkey? By weight? Perhaps it is from a favorite farm? Or it could be a brand that you like? But if you were a female turkey, you’d be looking at the male’s snood.
Gratitude for Gulls
Cosmopolitan, versatile and elegant in flight, Bonaparte’s Gull is a gull for people who may not like gulls. It slices the frigid air like a swallow. It drifts and swoops and swirls before me here on the Niagara River as the giant falls roar in the distance.
Outdoor Radio: A Blizzard of Geese
Biologists Sara Zahendra and Kent McFarland visit Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area, a destination spot for bird watchers, to see thousands of snow geese that flock there each fall. Listen to the show…
The Season’s First Snowy Owls
The forecast calls for snow — Snowy Owls and Snow Geese. Vermont’s first two Snowy Owls of the season have turned up in the past week.
VCE Presents 2015 Julie Nicholson Citizen Scientist Award to a ‘Loonatic’
This year VCE honors Mike Korkuc with the Julie Nicholson Citizen Science Award for his years of dedication to loon conservation.
A Field Guide to November
“Stick Season,” as we call it here in New England, when the woods are gray and cold, has been anything but lifeless so far this fall. Here’s your Field Guide to November.
International Experts Convene for Bicknell’s Thrush
Twenty-one stakeholders of the International Bicknell’s Thrush Conservation Group convened recently in Woodstock, VT to launch a revision of the 2010 conservation action plan for this globally rare and vulnerable migratory songbird.
