Observing Protected Species: How We Hide Their Location Data
For species under poaching pressure, like many reptiles and amphibians (due to collection for the pet trade), sharing exact locations could be catastrophic. That’s why location data is automatically obscured for threatened and endangered species.
Field Guide to June 2025
With nice weather finally (finally?) upon us, many are turning their attention to outdoor adventure. While out exploring, may come across these early summer sights: montane birds at the trailhead or White Bog Orchids in a marsh or bog. Or wildlife may come to you, with a colony of house bats and their pups! This June’s guide gives you insight into their behaviors and life history.
Proposed Rule Threatens to Narrow Endangered Species Protections
For more than 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has been considered “our nation’s most effective law to protect species from extinction.” However, a proposed rule throws the future of this law’s protections into question.
How We’re Taking Species Mapping to the Next Level
Using Species Distribution Models based on observations submitted to the Vermont Atlas of Life by community scientists, in combination with environmental data collected by satellites, can help land stewards create habitat conservation and restoration plans.
How Avian Influenza Might Be Affecting Loons
The iconic Common Loons may not be as vulnerable to bird flu as some species, but cases are emerging. Learn how researchers are monitoring this evolving threat and how you can help protect loons.
Field Guide to May 2025
This month is filled with natural delights. Bees buzzing around flowering trees, lively Blackpoll Warblers in backyards, and bud burst await. Grab your binoculars and take a neighborhood walk — here are the sounds and sights of May.
Know Your Five Apple Pollinators
With more than 350 species of wild bees in Vermont, it’s daunting to understand them all. So let’s start with a beloved flowering tree that is all over Vermont’s commercial…
New Names for Some Vermont Birds: a Primer on Taxonomy
Each year, experts on the American Ornithological Society (AOS) North American Classification Committee carefully review proposals to split and lump species based on new scientific evidence, to make sure species are grouped based on the best available science. And this typically calls for a new set of common names as well.
Why Are Evening Grosbeak Numbers Rising in the Northeast and Declining Everywhere Else?
Evening Grosbeaks have declined by about 90% in the last 50 years in most of the country. But in the Northeast, the population has been increasing. We hosted a team of researchers to tag these birds and find out why.
Field Guide to April 2025
It may be mud season in Vermont, but there are pops of color to be found if you know where to look! From small flowers on the forest floor to fluttering moths and spotted frogs calling from the ponds, there are so many beautiful reasons to get outside and muck around. So grab your raincoat and keep your eyes and ears open for April’s coming attractions.
February 2025 Photo-observation of the Month
Congratulations to iNaturalist user @cgbb2004 for winning the February 2025 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Their photo of a Short-tailed Weasel with snowy-white fur…
Field Guide to March 2025
March has arrived in classic New England spring fashion this year. With rapid shifts between blistering cold and warm rainy days, this month is reminiscent of its’ eponymous Roman god, Mars. Being named after the god of war, March is a month of battles between warm and cold, between winter’s refusal to leave and spring’s insistence on coming.
Follow this contest as it unfolds to an inevitable conclusion with these signs of spring.
