Escaping the August heat in the high elevations of the Green Mountains. © K.P. McFarland
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(At Least It’s Not) All Quiet on the Western Front: Eluded by Whip-poor-wills in Windham County |
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Sunrise near the end of the first window of the 2021 Eastern Whip-poor-will Survey. Moon seen over a powerline right-of-way. © Ben Fletcher |
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Despite numerous survey locations and some new robotic helpers, this year's Windham County Whip-poor-will survey team had a quiet season. However, historic hotspots in other regions of Vermont reported their usual noisy numbers of this nocturnal species. Read more about their findings on the VCE blog.
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In this Yellow-bellied Flycatcher portrait, notice the rictal bristles around the base of the beak. These modified proto-feathers were once thought to act as a ‘bug net’ making it easier to catch insect prey in flight. Although the precise function is still unknown, the latest consensus is that, like mammalian whiskers, they provide a sensory function, probably helping the bird gauge its speed and orientation in flight. © Michael Sargent |
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Week 9 proved an unusually quiet week for the Mt. Mansfield banding team, with only 19 birds captured. Although this trip yielded the lowest tally of the season, it was not without exciting captures, showing that quality truly does outweigh quantity. Find out more on the VCE blog.
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New Butterfly Species for Vermont Reported to eButterfly |
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Cloudless Sulphur © Terri Armata
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An ordinary afternoon butterfly walk turned into something special when Terri Armata noticed an odd yellow butterfly fluttering towards her. Curious, she snapped a photo and later shared it on eButterfly where it was identified as a Cloudless Sulphur—a species not previously documented in Vermont. Read more about her discovery and the amazing butterfly.
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Jefferson Salamander egg mass © Jac Huettenmoser, Vernal Pool Monitor
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Long-term monitoring takes long-term support.
We're in it for the long haul. Will you join us?
For 30 years VCE's conservation biologists, community scientists, and partners have mapped and monitored many species, gathering baseline information and monitoring changes over time. Projects like the Forest Bird Monitoring Project, Mountain Bird Watch, the Vermont Loon Conservation Project, the Vernal Pool Atlas, and the umbrella over them all, the Vermont Atlas of Life, provide both a snapshot in time and expose trends in wildlife populations. Sustained, long-term monitoring projects like these are essential if we are to understand the impact of development, climate change, invasive species, and other stressors on Vermont’s rich and diverse natural heritage and inform conservation management strategies to mitigate their impact.
We’re in this for the long haul. Will you join us by becoming a VCE Sustainer today?
Sustainers give monthly or quarterly gifts that support our research and long-term monitoring projects, building a consistent foundation to underpin the high-quality science that is VCE’s hallmark. Will you become a Sustainer today to support wildlife conservation across the Americas, now and for years to come?
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Light From Darkness: Lessons From National Moth Week |
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Orange-headed Epicallima Moth (Epicallima argenticinctella) © Bryan Pfeiffer
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Butterflies may get most of the glory, however an astounding diversity of moths also call Vermont home. And this year’s Vermont Moth Blitz volunteers got to bear witness to it. As VCE's colleague and friend Bryan Pfeiffer explains in his reflection, nearly 600 species were represented among the 3,800 observations—including some surprises! Read more on Bryan's blog.
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Vermont Atlas of Life Missions |
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Monarch on Joe Pye Weed © K.P. McFarland |
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Vermont Mission Monarch Blitz (July 23 – August 8, 2021)
Worried that you missed out on this year's Vermont Mission Monarch Blitz? Thanks to some late-July rainstorms, the VAL team has extended this event through August 8!
This project is part of the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz. Our aim is to contribute a snapshot of the status of Monarch populations across Vermont each year during this critical period of their life cycle. And we need your help to gather these data!
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Photo-observation of the Month
Peregrine Falcon pair by Michael Sargent
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A pair of Peregrine Falcons playing with their food. © Michael Sargent |
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Congratulations to Michael Sargent for winning the July 2021 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist. Mike’s photo of a Peregrine Falcon pair engaged in an acrobatic aerial food transfer narrowly beat some tough competition this month to end up with the most faves of any observation in the state for July. Visit the VCE Blog for more info about this species and view fantastic images of the runners-up in the July 2021 Photo-observation of the Month!
Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking 'fav' on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries—and you could be a winner!
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The Vermont Center for Ecostudies promotes wildlife conservation across the Americas using the combined strength of scientific research and citizen engagement. Find us online at: vtecostudies.org
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