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How Falcons Die

November 20, 2013  |  Bryan Pfeiffer

A new VCE study tracks Peregrine Falcons at birth and at death One peregrine falcon, which hatched on a cliff in Salisbury, Vermont, died after eating a European starling that…

One Day, Two Ross’s

November 18, 2013  |  Bryan Pfeiffer

A rare birdwatching feat: One Day, Two Ross’s from VCE Research Associate Bryan Pfeiffer. Read all about it and watch some slides.

Giant Data

November 8, 2013  |  Bryan Pfeiffer

On a cold, rainy day in November, Kent McFarland is happy: he’s found a butterfly. Well, okay, it’s not exactly a living butterfly. It’s a specimen in the insect collection…

Vermont Atlas of Life Map of the Week: Rough-legged Hawk

November 7, 2013  |  Kent McFarland

Keen birders have spotted the annual arrival of Rough-legged Hawk, a buteo of the north that winters here in Vermont. They are most often found in the Champlain Valley where…

November eNews

November 6, 2013  |  Bryan Pfeiffer

VCE’s eNews this month features articles on butterfly adaptation in winter, Snow Goose counts in Vermont, and “zombie leaves” on your daytime ramble. Read more here or click on the…

Counting Snow Geese

November 6, 2013  |  Bryan Pfeiffer

By Ian Worley The first autumn snowfall in Vermont is the landing of Snow Geese in the Champlain Valley. This year these white wonders have been few and far between,…

The Last Butterfly

November 5, 2013  |  Bryan Pfeiffer

For the past eight months they have flickered and fluttered among us – tiny flashes of red, orange, yellow and blue floating above hayfields and dancing in flower gardens: Spring…

Exposure to common herbicide could threaten global amphibian population

November 1, 2013  |  Steve Faccio

Early-life exposure to the herbicide atrazine makes frogs more susceptible to death from chytrid (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), a fungal disease implicated in amphibian declines around the globe. The research, Early-life exposure…

Vermont Atlas of Life Map of the Week: Paper Birches

October 28, 2013  |  Kent McFarland

With the leaves dropping fast, the intricate peeling bark of birch trees becomes more noticeable. Many people don’t realize that we have two types of paper birch in Vermont, Paper…

An Itinerant Avian Visitor from the South

October 24, 2013  |  Chris Rimmer

Two vagrant birds in a single season do not exactly constitute an “invasion”, but this October’s appearances of two White-eyed Vireos in Vermont’s Upper Valley have been remarkable.  While birding…

Vermont Atlas of Life Map of the Day: It’s What the Fox Says

October 22, 2013  |  Kent McFarland

Fox Sparrows are coming to a feeder near you! Check out the Vermont eBird data from contributors like you. Some are now showing up in the Champlain Valley and soon…

Vermont Atlas of Life Photo-observation of the Month

October 21, 2013  |  Kent McFarland

Our September guest photo-editor, Andrée Sanborn, selected some amazing photos from over 2,000 observations submitted to the Vermont Atlas of Life during September. The most popular photo-observation by vote was…