Admirals at Sea
Drifting in a boat several miles out in the Gulf of Maine, Chris Rimmer, director of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, didn’t expect to see any butterflies.
Study backs up theory that warming, pollution combine to hurt Alaska’s wood frogs
Alaska’s hardy wood frogs, like other amphibians around North America, have been plagued by a mysterious disorder that is deforming and killing them off.
Join VCE’s LoonWatch on July 18
Here’s your chance to visit a lake or pond during one of the most vital days for Common Loon conservation of the year: LoonWatch. On Saturday, July 18, volunteers will take to Vermont waters to count loons.
Choppers and Hoppers: A Report from the Grasslands
By mid-June we were fairly used to tanks shooting over us and helicopters buzzing past our heads. Such is a typical day of research with Grasshopper Sparrows on an active military reservation.
Celebrating Town Forest with eBird Hotspots
In 1915 the state of Vermont passed a law which allowed towns to acquire forest land for public benefit leading to the creation of over 300 town forests across the state. We would also like to recognize these important properties and encourage birders to suggest which town forests should be eBird Hotspots. Learn more…
BioBlitz 2015: Find Something Wild
Part scientific endeavor, part festival, and part education, on July 11th the 2015 BioBlitz at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park will bring together leading scientists, naturalists, and community members of all ages to find and document as many species as possible in one day at the park as part of the Vermont Atlas of Life.
Bicknell Legacy Shines on Mt. Mansfield
This past Tuesday, exactly one day after the 134th anniversary of Eugene Bicknell’s landmark discovery, a fifth generation descendant, Edward “Teddy” Bicknell Doggett, joined VCE staff on Mansfield, with his grandparents Gene and Nina Doggett. It didn’t take long for Teddy’s indoctrination into BITHnology to occur.
Outdoor Radio: Counting Terns
Hard hats in hand, VCE biologists Kent McFarland and Sara Zahendra head to Lake Champlain. They are taking a boat to Papasquash Island, owned by Audubon Vermont, to help count Common Tern eggs and chicks on the island.
Bicknell’s Sing Up a Storm on Mt. Mansfield
Imagine being on Vermont’s tallest peak at 9:30 pm on a clear, cool evening without a whisper of wind. Sunset’s faint after-glow still peeks from the western horizon, while a moon just past full rises bright orange to the east, over the Worcester range.
Scientists Combine Bird Survey Data to Identify Vulnerable Songbirds
Mountain Birdwatch data lie at the heart of a published study revealing that continent-wide bird surveys may offer important conservation insights, but they can miss rare or isolated species whose habitat lies off the beaten path, such as at high elevations or in remote bogs.
Judith Scarl Migrates Southward
For the past five and a half years, Judith Scarl has been a mainstay of VCE’s conservation biology staff. Now, she’s moving on, leaving the Green Mountains to try her hand on the bigger bird conservation stage in Washington, DC. It’s an understatement to say that we’ll miss Jude, and that she has left a lasting mark here.
The Long Life of Tropical Mountain Birds
Bird banding data collected for over 15 years by VCE researchers shows that resident tropical birds live a long life. Some of the small songbirds lived nearly 14 years.
