Vermont Center for Ecostudies

Darwin's Worms in all the Wrong Places

2013-05-23T08:08:00.002-04:00

Charles Darwin loved earthworms. When he wasn’t messing around trying to figure out why animals were the way they were, he was pondering earthworms. In the 19^th century most folks thought worms were a pest. But Darwin was convinced otherwise.

Darwin believed they provided an important yet unnoticed service; worms slowly turned over the soil. So he conjured up an experiment. He spread small pieces of coal across a field behind his house outside of London and left them. Decades later, he dug a trench and looked in the walls of the trench to see how far down the pieces of coal had sunk through the action of the worms turning over the soil. The soil increased in depth by 0.2 of an inch per year. After 10 years a chunk of coal on the soil surface sinks two inches. Indeed, as Darwin believed, earthworms do add a layer of digested matter on the surface bit by bit.

In Darwin’s field, that was fine and dandy. The worms were native. Here in the glaciated Northeast, they are one ugly brute. There were no earthworms as the continental glacier left a clean slate some 12,000 years ago. Any native worm species are found far to the south and move northward very slowly.

Enter the European invasion. Worms from the old world hitchhiked and found an empty new world to colonize. Today, we continue to transport them to new areas, intentionally and unintentionally, through dumping of unused fishing bait, transport of compost and mulch, and moving topsoil around.

So what’s the big deal?

Earthworms literally eat tons of leaf litter when they are introduced to the northern hardwood forest. In worm-free forests, this is done very slowly by fungi, bacteria and other native detrivores resulting in a rich, thick layer of rotting material called “duff”. Many understory plants are dependent on duff. It protects seeds from predation, extreme cold and drought and adds lots of nutrients. Add earthworms to a thick duff layer, and as Darwin found out, soon it is eaten and turned into the soil. The forest floor completely changes.

Biologists are just now beginning to understand the ramifications of this. But already one thing is clear. These little wigglers are a big problem. A lot of native understory plants appear to be very sensitive to these changes, including economic powerhouses like sugar maple and red oak seedlings. Experimental plots with and without earthworms look drastically different. Those without worms have a thick, lush growth of understory plants and those with worms are comparatively barren.

And with introduced earthworms come introduced plants. Recently, scientists have found that earthworm invasions are facilitating non-native plant invasions, probably through alteration of soil nutrients and disruption of fungal mycorrhizae that are needed by plants to help absorb nutrients.

Change the duff layer and the understory plant community and of course you change the animal community too. Recently, studies in Pennsylvania and New York found that Red-backed Salamanders, usually the most abundant vertebrate in hardwood forests, are profoundly affected by the presence of earthworms. Red-backs rely on a thick duff layer with a healthy population of tiny invertebrates to eat, both of which decline with increasing worm densities.

In their native habitat the work of earthworms might have pleased Darwin, but in a northern hardwood forest it is becoming clear that these little wigglers are a big problem.

Source: One Square Meter, a blog by K.P. McFarland

“eButterfly” Can Change a Summer Hobby into a Scientific Venture

2013-05-21T15:41:00.001-04:00

First Vermont state record for White-M Hairstreak.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – With the arrival of sunny summer days and creation of a new “citizen science” project called eButterfly, every seven-year-old child in the United States and Canada just gained the ability to become a working scientist.

This project, which is now online at e-butterfly.org, is one of the first of its type, and will allow everyone from children to senior citizens to record the butterflies they see or collect, build a virtual butterfly collection, share their sightings with others, and contribute to a scientific record of global change.

It’s free, and all you need to get started are a sharp eye, an interest in nature and a computer.

“We expect global changes in climate and other forces to have serious impacts on butterfly populations around the world,” said Katy Prudic, a research scientist at Oregon State University and founder and director of this project in the U.S. “There are estimates of general declines over 30 percent and localized extinctions.”

Butterflies, an important part of many ecosystems, are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature, population growth, urban sprawl, changes in land and water use, and many other forces, Prudic said. Experts have the ability with powerful computers to interpret these changes and better understand how they are affecting biodiversity – but they don’t have the manpower to gather all the data.

“What we need, and what we believe eButterfly will provide, is thousands of individuals collecting data on butterfly sightings all over the U.S. and Canada, for decades to come,” Prudic said. “This will be a wonderful opportunity for people to get involved in science, appreciate nature and our changing world, and interact with and enjoy biodiversity.”

Because the project taps into the natural interests of children, both rural and urban, who have been chasing butterflies and making collections for centuries, it also offers an entry into the world of science at a very young age, organizers say. Their contributions will be just as valuable as those of an adult hobbyist or working professional, and in the process they can learn about ecology, botany, entomology, geography, computers, data management, global change issues, and other science disciplines.

Slight changes in temperature and other climate factors, experts say, cause changes in butterfly development, migration, eating habits, and other behavior. Butterflies are also a good indicator of the availability of certain plants on which various species depend. And changes are inevitable.

“With the amount of global warming expected in the next 20 years, almost all butterfly species will move somewhat, in location or elevation,” Prudic said. “There may be winners and losers as these changes take place, and some species will struggle more than others. With the data we gather from this project we can monitor those changes and understand the impact on biodiversity.”

The new web site offers a tutorial in how to use it, and simple features such as a map that you can zoom in on, to provide exact latitude and longitudes of butterfly sightings. Experts will review entries for accuracy, and people will be encouraged to take digital photos to help verify their sightings.

Data from new sightings will be combined in this project with historical information from a century of museum collections, organizers say, to provide some historic perspective almost immediately.

This project is being developed in collaboration with the Montreal Space for Life, the University of Ottawa, the University of Alberta, and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. A system for recording butterfly sightings in Mexico is not yet available, organizers said.

Source: Oregon State University Press release

Invasives plants a problem for birds

2013-05-16T22:13:00.001-04:00

VCE biologist Roz Renfrew tours a Vermont field with WCAX News to capture some great footage of Bobolinks, and talk about a looming problem for nesting and migrating birds: invasive plants.

Watch WCAX News Video

Read WCAX news story

Ode to Migration

2013-05-14T20:39:00.003-04:00

What does a Wood Thrush, a Monarch butterfly and a Common Green Darner dragonfly have in common? Each spring they all migrate great distances to the Northeast from warm southern climates to breed. We’ve know where thrushes winter in Central America. We’ve known where Monarchs winter in Mexico for nearly 40 years now. But no one knows where the darners spend their winters or how they repopulate the Northeast each spring. We cannot manage and conserve a migratory animal without knowledge of its full annual cycle.

We have joined a group of biologists that are hot on the trail of discovery. VCE is part of the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership, a group of scientists from across the United States, Canada and Mexico trying to better understand dragonfly migration. We are conducting a ground-breaking study using stable-hydrogen isotopes in the wings of dragonflies to trace spring migrants back to their natal origins, unlocking the geographic scale and connectivity of these populations.

Dragonfly migrations have been observed on every continent except Antarctica, with some species performing spectacular long- distance mass movements. The Wandering Glider dragonfly is the global insect long-distance champion, making flights across the Indian Ocean that are twice the distance of Monarch butterfly migrations. In North America, dragonfly migrations are seen annually in late summer and early fall, when thousands to millions of insects move from Canada down to Mexico and Florida and the West Indies, passing along both coasts of the United States and through the Midwest. North America may have as many as eighteen migratory dragonfly species; some engage in annual seasonal migrations, and others are more sporadic migrants.

Spring movements northward by dragonflies are rarely seen, presumably because it occurs over a wider front, over a longer time period, and with fewer individuals than in the fall. We know it happens because dragonflies appear early in spring in places where nymphs have not yet emerged.

The best-known migrant dragonfly in North America is the Common Green Darner. This species appears in early spring at northern latitudes, often seen flying before any local dragonflies have emerged. These are migrants from the south, returning from perhaps Florida, the Caribbean, or Mexico. These individuals breed soon after they arrive in spring, and their nymphs develop quickly in wetlands warmed by the summer sun. Many adults emerge in August, and instead of maturing and breeding at the same site, they begin a southward movement that may take over a month. Their destination is at present unknown but presumably the same areas thought to produce spring migrants. Migrating individuals may breed at their final destination or along the way.

Although migration is common, it is not obligatory for Common Green Darner. Populations in more northern areas are known to contain both resident and migratory individuals. These phenotypes overlap in space, but exhibit strikingly different annual phenologies that appear to limit temporal overlap in breeding. Migrants arrive at breeding ponds in March – April and larvae develop into adults in 4-5 months. Residents begin their breeding cycle roughly one month later in June – July and larvae overwinter in ponds, finally emerging as adults in May-June in the following year.

There is some evidence that air temperature plays a role in the maintenance of this phenotypic variation. Final-instar larvae of migratory phenotypes reared in the laboratory required a minimum water temperature of 8.7^oC to develop into adults. In Ontario, resident phenotypes required 20% more accumulated degree-days than migrants to complete development. These thresholds suggest that the relative size of migratory populations could vary with latitudinal gradients and temperature.

Despite the fact that it spans several countries and has been documented since at least the 1880s, North American dragonfly migration is a poorly understood phenomenon. Knowledge about migratory cues, flight pathways, population connectivity and the southern limits of overwintering grounds is still seriously lacking. This knowledge gap prevents development of international management plans and coordinated conservation actions to sustain and protect the migration. None of the dragonfly species known to be migrants in North America is currently endangered, but identifying the habitats on which migrating dragonflies rely for their transcontinental flights may help us better protect these important systems. The threats to wetland habitats, including the effects of global climate disruption, could alter environmental cues for migration, affect larval development and adult emergence times, disrupt migratory corridors, or render overwintering habitat unsuitable.

The overarching goal of this study is to understand the geographic scale and connectivity of dragonfly migration. Remarkably, we can do this by examining the chemistry locked in the dragonfly’s wings.

Stable-hydrogen isotopes are ideal for inferring natal origins dragonflies because they reflect the latitude at which body tissues were grown and because they are chemically inert once bound. Vaporizing a tiny piece of a wing in a mass spectrometer gives us the figures we need to determine the latitude of the pond where they grew up. With the help of volunteers in the field and museum collections from the past, we are sampling Common Green Darners from Mexico to Texas, over to Florida and up the eastern half of North America into Canada in a quest to better understand what might be one of North Americas most amazing animal migrations.

You can help us! Join the Dragonfly Pond Watch project or add your dragonfly observation at Odonata Central. Your observations will join thousands of others across North America to help us understand dragonfly migration.

Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge Birding and Lecture

2013-05-14T15:34:00.001-04:00

Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge is having an Open House on Saturday May 18th from 730am to 3pm. There will be a bird count beginning at 745am , taking place by boat on the river as well as on all of the walking trails. Lunch will be provided at 1130am, with a presentation by VCE ornithologist Roz Renfrew on Bobolinks that is titled “They go WHERE?”

The Open House is also the opening event for Art on the Refuge, with paintings and photographs of the natural world, especially in connection with the wildlife, plants and landscapes of the lands on the Refuge.

The Refuge is at 29 Tabor Road in West Swanton, 6 miles west of Swanton Village. The event is free and open to the public. Please register for the boat bird count at 802-868-4781.

Tongue Wagging

2013-05-13T12:09:00.003-04:00

When it comes to tongue wagging, snakes beat even the best gossipers in town. They seem to flick them in, out and about incessantly. Like the ears of a gossiper, the snake’s tongue is searching for information.

Garter snakes have especially colorful tongues – a bright red base and glossy black forked tips. It’s also a highly sensitive chemical collector. With each wag of the tongue airborne molecules are captured for analysis. Even with its mouth closed, the snake can slide its tongue through a space in its upper jaw.

Inside the mouth the forked tips of the tongue deliver the captured molecules to the vomeronasal organ (VNO), also called the Jacobson’s organ, located in the palate of the mouth below the nasal cavity. In mammals the opening to this organ is to the nose, but in snakes it opens to the mouth via small ducts. The tips of the tongue are drawn over narrow grooves in the roof of the mouth, which pass the chemical information into the ducts and up to the VNO.

The VNO has two openings in the palate. The forked tongue may actually allow the snake to have stereo chemo-sensation. If the odor is stronger on one side, the snake can ascertain the direction to the source.

The chemo-sensation of the VNO in snakes is much greater than in most mammals. The next time you see a snake, don’t be alarmed at the tongue wagging. It’s just tasting your scent.

Source: One Square Meter blog - K.P. McFarland

New Study: Climate change will cause widespread global-scale loss of common plants and animals

2013-05-12T16:57:00.000-04:00

More than half of common plants and one third of the animals could see a dramatic decline this century due to climate change – according to research from the University of East Anglia.

Research published today in the journal Nature Climate Change looked at 50,000 globally widespread and common species and found that more than one half of the plants and one third of the animals will lose more than half of their climatic range by 2080 if nothing is done to reduce the amount of global warming and slow it down.

This means that geographic ranges of common plants and animals will shrink globally and biodiversity will decline almost everywhere.

Plants, reptiles and particularly amphibians are expected to be at highest risk. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, Amazonia and Australia would lose the most species of plants and animals. And a major loss of plant species is projected for North Africa, Central Asia and South-eastern Europe.

But acting quickly to mitigate climate change could reduce losses by 60 per cent and buy an additional 40 years for species to adapt. This is because this mitigation would slow and then stop global temperatures from rising by more than two degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial times (1765). Without this mitigation, global temperatures could rise by 4 degrees Celsius by 2100.

The study was led by Dr Rachel Warren from theTyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA. Collaborators include Dr Jeremy VanDerWal at James Cook University in Australia and Dr Jeff Price, from UEA’s school of Environmental Sciences and the Tyndall Centre. The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Dr Warren said: “While there has been much research on the effect of climate change on rare and endangered species, little has been known about how an increase in global temperature will affect more common species.

“This broader issue of potential range loss in widespread species is a serious concern as even small declines in these species can significantly disrupt ecosystems.

“Our research predicts that climate change will greatly reduce the diversity of even very common species found in most parts of the world. This loss of global-scale biodiversity would significantly impoverish the biosphere and the ecosystem services it provides.

“We looked at the effect of rising global temperatures, but other symptoms of climate change such as extreme weather events, pests, and diseases mean that our estimates are probably conservative. Animals in particular may decline more as our predictions will be compounded by a loss of food from plants.

“There will also be a knock-on effect for humans because these species are important for things like water and air purification, flood control, nutrient cycling, and eco-tourism.

"The good news is that our research provides crucial new evidence of how swift action to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gases can prevent the biodiversity loss by reducing the amount of global warming to 2 degrees Celsius rather than 4 degrees. This would also buy time – up to four decades - for plants and animals to adapt to the remaining 2 degrees of climate change.”

The research team quantified the benefits of acting now to mitigate climate change and found that up to 60 per cent of the projected climatic range loss for biodiversity can be avoided.

Dr Warren said: “Prompt and stringent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally would reduce these biodiversity losses by 60 per cent if global emissions peak in 2016, or by 40 per cent if emissions peak in 2030, showing that early action is very beneficial. This will both reduce the amount of climate change and also slow climate change down, making it easier for species and humans to adapt.”

Information on the current distributions of the species used in this research came from the datasets shared online by hundreds of volunteers, scientists and natural history collections through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Co-author Dr Jeff Price, also from UEA’s school of Environmental Studies, said: "Without free and open access to massive amounts of data such as those made available online through GBIF, no individual researcher is able to contact every country, every museum, every scientist holding the data and pull it all together. So this research would not be possible without GBIF and its global community of researchers and volunteers who make their data freely available."

‘Quantifying the benefit of early climate change mitigation in avoiding biodiversity loss’ is published by the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday May 12, 2013.

Source: University of East Anglia Press Release

Don't Eat Newts

2013-05-10T20:36:00.000-04:00

It’s hard to miss the bright Red Eft roaming the woods. With the recent rain ending the dry spring, they are now wandering widely. Efts are the terrestrial form of the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens). Like most amphibians, they have to keep their skin moist so they are most often seen crawling around when the forest is wet. One person recently reported to the Vermont Atlas of LIfe that they found 70 of them on a walk in MIddlebury, Vermont after the recent rains.

In later summer aquatic larvae may transform either directly into the adult aquatic stage or become a terrestrial eft. Bright orange and red, the efts live on land for up to four years. They eat small insects, springtails, snails, and other arthropods. As they grow older they become darker and darker until they begin to look almost like an adult Eastern Newt. They return to the water where they will mate and live the rest of their lives.

Why such an obvious, bright orange color? This is called aposematic coloration, a warning coloration that makes a poisonous animal particularly conspicuous and recognizable to predators. Their tough skin contains high concentrations of tetradotoxin, a neurotoxin and strong emetic.

Tetrodotoxin is the most poisonous non-protein substance known to biologists and similar to that found in pufferfish. It blocks the conduction of nerve signals to muscles causing blood vessels to relax and leading to a sudden drop in blood pressure and then shock. In a nutshell, the toxin blocks the signals from your brain that tell your heart to beat and lungs to breath.

When approached or attacked by a predator, efts may assume the Unken reflex, a defense posture taken by many amphibians to show off the aposematic skin. The eft flexes its mid-section making the head and tail raised and curled over the back in the shape of a horseshoe.

Efts are about ten times more toxic than the aquatic adults. Just a small amount has been shown to kill mice in a mere 10 minutes, but both forms will kill mice if eaten in high enough concentrations. Blue Jays outright reject them as food. Efts swallowed by toads or snakes have been regurgitated after 30 minutes and recovered rapidly without lasting ill effects. But not all predators are deterred. Raccoons can apparently eat efts without any apparent toxic effects.

A few years ago VCE biologist Steve Faccio brought a duck in for examination. His wife was watching the mallard on their pond when suddenly the duck shuddered and died. Steve and I performed a quick necropsy to see what it might have in its digestive tract. What we found was a surprise. There were dozens of partially digested Eastern Newts. We'll never know for sure what killed the duck, but I sure was suspicious that it chose the wrong meal.

No matter how hungry you are on a hike, whatever you do, don’t eat the newts.

Source: One Square Meter blog, Kent McFarland

Vermont Atlas of LIfe April Photo-observation Winner

2013-05-09T11:04:00.002-04:00

April is the start of spring migration for many species and our monthly photo-observation winner was an exciting highlight. Fishnek (aka Tom) presented an action photo of a Rainbow Trout that immediately grabbed the attention of many voters.

See his photo-observation at http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248747.

Congratulations to Tom. There are still thousands of undocumented Vermont species and locations to be reported. Maybe May is your month to win!

A big thanks to JoAnne Russo, our March winner, for serving as the contest judge for April. Who wants to be our honorable volunteer judge to select four fantastic photo-observations for the May contest?

More Tree Species Diversity in Sugarbushes Reduces Maple Pest Levels

2013-05-06T16:32:00.002-04:00

A well-managed sugarbush is a unique ecosystem, producing maple syrup and providing rich habitat with significant environmental benefits, which can include forest biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Historically, sugarbushes were monocultures of sugar maples with large crowns. These sugarbushes produced sweeter sap per tree but were more vulnerable to pests and diseases, impacting long term health and sustainability of the stand.

NSRC researchers compared abundance and impacts of insect and disease pests between traditional management (90-100% sugar maple) and ecological management (25% of the basal area non-sugar maple). At nine sites (three each in USDA plant cold hardiness zones 3, 4, and 5) in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, researchers quantified pear thrips, maple leafcutter, sugar maple borer, maple trumpet skeletonizer, maple anthracnose, and eutypella canker incidence. Researchers estimated stand health based on tree crown transparency ratings. They determined carbon sequestration using a USDA carbon calculation tool. Researchers also surveyed sugarmakers' attitudes towards non-traditional sugarbush management.

Increased tree species diversity in sugarbushes using ecological management significantly reduced presence and impact of sugar maple insect and disease pests. Differences were similar across cold hardiness zones and sites but not always by year due to normal yearly fluctuations in pest populations. Surveys indicated that sugarmakers favored the new management style if their trees were healthier and lived longer. There was no connection between stored carbon and increased stand biodiversity, but maintaining a biologically diverse forest reduces pest damage to maple, benefits wildlife, and may strengthen forest resistance to climate change.

Download printable version (PDF)

Download full final report (PDF)

Source: http://nsrcforest.org/project/more-tree-species-diversity-sugarbushes-reduces-maple-pest-levels

Waves of Bird Song

2013-05-03T21:40:00.003-04:00

Each year as the earth travels around the sun, migratory birds wintering in the tropics are in waiting. As the northern hemisphere passes from a cold winter, tilted ever so slightly away from the sun, into the longer and warmer days of spring, they get antsy.

After a quiet winter, a Wood Thrush sings at dawn in the rainforest of Belize. Earth’s orbit is bringing changes. One early spring evening, they all lift off into the darkening sky. Millions upon millions of songbirds stream northward like a river of feathers.

The lengthening days of spring sparks the rush of hormones. Higher and higher levels of testosterone and melatonin are produced in males. The high vocal center of the brain actually increases in volume. They begin to sing more and more as they arrive on the northern breeding grounds. By late spring with the length of daylight in the north near its maximum so are the testosterone levels of a male Song Sparrow. He’s feisty and he sings almost constantly on his territory. Other Song Sparrows beware; this is his patch of land.

Its May and around the world in the northern temperate zone songbirds are excited. The breeding season is here. As sunrise and sunset circle the temperate zone each day, a wave of bird song travels with it. As twilight barely glimmers in the east each morning songbirds are proclaiming their presence.

Imagine silently traveling in a hot air balloon at 700 to 900 miles per hour westward with the rising sun just above the temperate forests and grasslands. For 24 hours you’d hear nothing but the joyous songs of spring chorusing around the globe one mile after another, repeating itself day after day the entire breeding season. From a Winter Wren in Maine to a Hermit Thrush in Vermont, onto a Wood Thrush in Ohio, Kirtland’s Warbler in Michigan, Savannah Sparrows in North Dakota, Townsend’s Solitaire in Idaho, an American Dipper singing over the roar of a river in Washington. Just a few that you’d hear as you glide with the sun across North America. Millions of songbirds on continents to the west await the rising sun. Wave after wave of songbird chorus travels around the globe.

The chorus is music to our ears. For many of us in the north, we have had months of near bird silence. Our world is a cold and quiet one for much of the year. I once heard an ornithologist from the tropics exclaim that those of us in the temperate zone are such keen birders because each year we understand what it would be like to lose most of our birds only to be renewed each spring. Bird song is present year-round in the tropics. The strong sense of wonder of a morning bird chorus perhaps comes from not having it for most of the year. It’s the same excitement we get when we see the first fresh spring wildflower or the sudden appearance of green trees. It’s auditory wonder, scientific wonder, and spiritual wonder. It’s an annual miracle.

Source: One Square Meter - K.P. McFarland blog

Effects of European Buckthorn on Amphibian and Mammal Populations

2013-05-03T12:43:00.005-04:00

Two new studies slated to be published in upcoming editions of the Journal of Herpetology and Natural Areas Journal demonstrate how this non-native shrub is toxic to amphibian embryos, and affects habitat use by mammals by increasing prevalence of coyotes and other carnivores. Read the full article here.

Vote for the Best April Photo-observation!

2013-05-02T09:54:00.002-04:00

The April candidates for Photo-observation of the Month at the Vermont Atlas of Life have been selected by JoAnne Russo. Like previous monthly editors, JoAnne found it hard to choose just four and told us that she went more towards the "artsy" shots this month. Just like last month, if you are reading this, you are one of the judges. Look at the observations listed below and vote by adding a comment to this message with your selection. The observation with the most votes wins.

Visit the atlas page and vote for April! Voting closes in one week.
1. http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/249214
2. http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248747
3. http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247736
4. http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245877

We hope you'll contribute your sightings to the atlas and maybe you can be selected for May.

Going Four for Four on the First Day of Fieldwork

2013-05-01T13:19:00.000-04:00

The last day of April was also my first day of fieldwork for 2013. The goal was to field-verify 7 potential vernal pools that had been mapped remotely as part of the Vermont Vernal Pool Mapping Project. Although I only managed to visit 4 of those 7 sites because the hikes were much longer than I expected, all four turned out to be vernal pools, including one gem.

I spent the day in the extensive Arthur Davis Wildlife Management Area located in the towns of Reading and Plymouth. Covering nearly 8,000 acres, Arthur Davis WMA is adjacent to three other state-owned parcels -- Calvin Coolidge State Forest, Plymouth Camp State Park, and Plymsbury WMA. Combined, these four parcels create one of the largest state-owned blocks of undeveloped land in southern Vermont.


Large, classic vernal pool in Reading, VT

Among the four pools, the first I visited was awesome -- a classic woodland vernal pool, and one of the largest I've seen, measuring roughly 80 x 190 feet. A few Wood Frogs were present, along with a large raft of ~100 egg masses that appeared to be about a week old. A number of Spotted Salamander egg masses were also present. After some close scrutiny I was able to locate a few Fairy Shrimp, unique crustaceans that spend their entire lives in the temporary waters of vernal pools. Since I could only locate a few individuals, I assumed that their eggs -- which had been laid last spring and overwintered in the pool -- had just begun to hatch.

My next stop was the Reading Pond Road Access area. This gated gravel road provides vehicle access into the heart of the Arthur Davis WMA, but as I learned yesterday, the gate doesn't open until June 1st. This extended my round-trip hike by about 5 miles, but the roadside display of trout lilies and spring beauties, along with a few Mourning Cloak butterflies, was well-worth it.

The remote, 22-acre Reading Pond.

After confirming two small, unremarkable vernal pools within a couple hundred meters of the road, I began a long bushwhack east toward the north end of Reading Pond. This remote, 22-acre pond is one of the few I know of this large without boat access. As I skirted around the north edge of the pond, Moose and Beaver sign were abundant. Several Common Mergansers, along with a pair of Wood Ducks and Mallards cruised the pond's marshy edges.

From here, my destination was a potential vernal pool located on a topographic saddle about 2 km to the northeast, just west of the 2,478-foot summit of Mt. Tom.

Bushwhacking through hardwoods prior to leaf-out can be such a pleasure, with unobstructed views through the forest understory. I was able to follow a drainage uphill for much of the 2 km, which allowed me to spend more time looking around rather then looking at my GPS. I heard a number of "new" birds for the year, including Black-throated Green and Black-and-White warblers, Blue-headed Vireo, and Red-shouldered Hawk.

Vernal pool with ice remaining at 2,400-feet elevation.

After an hour of hiking I reached the ridge, wet with sweat, where I paused by a large sugar maple to catch my breath and get a drink of water. The top of the ridge was dominated by red spruce, some of which extended above the general canopy. I've learned from experience that these conditions often produce shadows that when viewed on an aerial photograph can look like a vernal pool. I hoped that the pool I was looking for was not such a shadow. After hiking another 5 minutes, however, the distinct clucking of Wood Frogs made me smile.

Wood Frog eggs. The small mass on the lower left was laid recently.

As I approached the pool, a Barred Owl silently flew from a shoreline perch, quieting the frogs. At 2,400 feet elevation, a band of ice still clung to the southern edge of the crescent-shaped pool. I slowly made my way around the perimeter looking for evidence of amphibian breeding. At a sunny spot on the north side, dozens of Wood Frog eggs had been deposited, some of them small and compact indicating they were laid within the last few hours. Amphibian eggs absorb water after they have been deposited, tripling or more in size during the first 24 hours.

Bear tracks greeted me at the southern end of Reading Pond.

As I was completing a data sheet on this pool, the Barred Owl called twice from the woods on the opposite side. I often encounter Barred Owls at vernal pools, especially during the week or so when Wood Frogs are actively courting. I finished the last of my water, checked the GPS for the bearing that would bring me to the southern end of Reading Pond, and headed off. Another hour of relatively easy downhill hiking brought me to the marshy, beaver wetland at the pond's south end. A clear set of bear tracks about the size of my hand were visible in the mud. Like the bear, I chose to cross the old beaver dam rather then getting my feet wet.

All in all it was an excellent first day in the field, even if I didn't reach my goal of visiting all seven pools. The upside is now I have an excuse to get back there for more fieldwork -- three excuses actually.

Vermont Butterfly Big Year: #3 West Virginia White

2013-04-29T15:13:00.000-04:00

It’s not a gaudy butterfly. It isn’t the biggest or the smallest. In fact, it’s mostly just white. But the West Virginia White is unusual; it only flies in forests. And yesterday I had the pleasure of finding a couple of these spring beauties nectaring, patrolling and procreating in a forest in southwestern Vermont, where it is considered a species of conservation concern. It became species number 3 for my Vermont Butterfly Big Year.

Time Remove Bird Feeders and Wash Them

2013-04-29T09:32:00.003-04:00

I have received a few reports of sick and dying Common Redpolls at bird feeders around the region. In the past when I have seen this I have sent samples for testing and they have come back positive for Salmonella. Have you cleaned your feeders lately? With warming spring temperatures its time to clean bird feeders with a 10% bleach solution and rake up all the seed waste that may be on the ground around them and dispose of it.

Do it for the birds and the bears today!

Redpolls come from the far north where they may not be exposed to pathogens common in our year-round backyard birds. Salmonella is commonly isolated from House Sparrows for example. They also congregate in large numbers around a concentrated food source and come into contact with infected droppings. The warmer spring temperatures and old seed on ground probably increases transmission.

Salmonellos is caused by a bacteria belonging to the genus Salmonella. It is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds, but the symptoms are not always obvious. Sick birds may appear thin, fluffed up, and may have swollen eyelids. They are often lethargic and easy to approach. Some infected birds may show no outward symptoms but are carriers of the disease and can spread the infection to other birds.

It is primarily transmitted by fecal contamination of food and water by sick birds, though it can also be transmitted by bird-to-bird contact. Occasionally, outbreaks of the disease cause significant mortality in certain species. It only takes a few minutes to wash your feeders. Take some time and do it today!

A Vermont Butterfly Big Year

2013-04-26T21:46:00.000-04:00

I am sure between peering through binoculars at feathers flashing past I noticed a butterfly now and again. But it wasn’t until one spring day, more than 20 years ago, when I truly saw butterflies. A Milbert's Tortoiseshell sunning itself on a cool New Hampshire morning led me to learn it had spent the winter as an adult waiting for this warm day. Wait, it overwintered? That was quite remarkable to me and I’ve been hooked on butterflies ever since.

We kicked off the Vermont Butterfly Survey in 2002. There had been fine work done in parts of the state by entomologists whose shoulders we stood upon. But there had never been a complete statewide atlas of Vermont’s butterflies. We were lucky enough to have Bob Pyle - lepidopterist, founder of the Xerces Society and celebrated author - visiting the region and willing to kick off the survey with an evening lecture in Montpelier followed by a weekend of fieldwork with a dozen survey volunteers. From sharing Bob’s life butterfly to the Luna Moth fluttering about in a fen in broad daylight, it was a memorable weekend in the field.

As Bob said, “You can't conserve something if you don't know where it is, and you can't find out where it is without dedicated amateurs out there every day, all season, surveying the actual conditions on the ground.” We were all excited to do just that for the next six years.

We amassed over 36,000 records across all of Vermont. We added 12 species to Vermont’s known fauna. And we identified 16 species in conservation need. Perhaps even more importantly, we established a community of Vermont butterfly watchers and a real sense for butterfly conservation that continues to this day.

Since then, watchers reported the first Giant Swallowtail from the south as it fluttered into Vermont in 2010 and then documented its amazing colonization and now its apparent permanent residency with unprecedented detail. We’ve found new colonies of emperors and added a White M Hairstreak to our list.
The community continues to grow, as does our knowledge.

As we were still tallying the results from our survey, in Orion magazine Bob wrote, “For the year 2008, I will go forth in Powdermilk, my ancient little Honda (now with 353,000 miles on the odometer), and attempt to encounter and deeply experience as many of the eight hundred species of butterflies that live in the United States and Canada as I can.” Finding a whopping 478 butterfly species across North America (his goal was 500!), he chronicled his adventures in Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year.

Inspired by Bob’s adventures, by the watchers across Vermont, and by the butterflies themselves for the year 2013 I will attempt the first ever Vermont butterfly big year. Marching back and forth across the ancient Green Mountains won’t stack up to the thousands of miles and many weeks that Bob traveled. My goal of 75 species is a far cry from his 500. With my 19 year old Vermont life list at 78 species and the current unofficial record for a year-long butterfly foray standing at 60, held by Kevin “sweet nectar” Hemeon of course, I’ll have my work cut out for me.

This might even spawn some friendly competition among us watchers, even as we tromp into the field together or alert each other of a place to visit. But therein lies my idea. This is a season-long venture best shared among friends, new and old. While it will be a fun adventure, I hope it will also bring attention to these amazing insects and get others counting and sharing their discoveries with us at e-Butterfly.org. The more we continue to look, the more we continue to learn.

Join Us for a MIgratory Dragonfly Workshop

2013-04-25T21:34:00.001-04:00

MIGRATORY DRAGONFLY

SHORT COURSE

White River Junction, Vermont
June 8, 2013
10:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Dragonfly migration occurs on every continent except Antarctica. In North America, huge numbers of dragonflies can be seen flying south in fall along both coasts and through the Midwest, but these migrations are still poorly understood. The Migratory Dragonfly Partnership (MDP), Xerces Society, and U.S. Forest Service International Programs are pleased to announce an upcoming Migratory Dragonfly Short Course in White River Junction, Vermont. This full day training will provide an overview of dragonfly life history, ecology, conservation, and migratory behavior, and train participants to identify key migratory species and contribute data to ongoing MDP citizen science research projects.

SHORT COURSE DETAILS

Cost:

Free

Morning refreshments will be provided. Lunch is
not included.

Registration:

Registration is required for this course.

Click here to register online or to find out more information about the course in White River Junction, Vermont on June 8, 2013.

Hurry; space is limited!

Contact:
Michele Blackburn
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

dragonfly@xerces.org

PARTNERS

INTENDED AUDIENCE

This course is intended for anyone interested in dragonflies and in contributing to our growing knowledge about dragonfly migration in North America. Whether you are a novice or a pro when it comes to dragonflies, please join us for this fun and informative event tobecome a volunteer citizen science monitor and help us explore the amazing but understudied phenomenon of dragonfly migration!

INSTRUCTOR

Celeste Mazzacano, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist / Aquatic Program Director, Xerces Society
Project Coordinator, MDP

THE MDP MISSION

The Migratory Dragonfly Partnership is composed of dragonfly experts, nongovernmental programs, academic institutions, and federal agencies from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Together, we are combining research, citizen science, and education and outreach to better understand North America's migrating dragonflies and promote conservation of their wetland habitat.For information about the MDP, visit

www.migratorydragonflypartnership.org/

or contact dragonfly@xerces.org.
PHOTO CREDIT
Common Green Darners (Anax junius)by Dennis Paulson

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This Migratory Dragonfly Short Course is made possible with the support of the U.S. Forest Service
International Programs. The Migratory Dragonfly Partnership (MDP) is chaired by Scott Black (Xerces Society)
and vice-chaired by John Abbott (University of Texas-Austin). The following organizations are MDP partners:

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources ~ Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum ~ Pronatura Veracruz ~ Rutgers University ~ Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound ~ Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute ~ University of Texas at Austin ~ U.S. Geological Survey ~ Vermont Center for
Ecostudies ~ The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Special thanks to

Vermont Center for Ecostudies

for hosting this event!

In Just One Square Meter

2013-04-25T13:35:00.003-04:00

In third grade Mrs. Seems taught me one thing that I have never forgotten. There is a lot to see in just one square meter.

We headed out of the small schoolhouse, each carrying a wooden frame. Our instructions were to choose a place, toss the frame on the ground, and then find everything you can inside it that is alive. After nearly 40 years, I still remember the spot in the schoolyard grass, not far from the front door and up the hill a bit, where I knelt down and counted with excitement all the living things on that one square meter of high desert. I noted them on my datasheet- one kind of grass. black ant. small beetle... I was excited to be a scientist.

Decades later, bent down staring at small patch of ground I realize my knees are aching and my foot is asleep. I am counting and measuring all the thrush food - beetles, spiders harvestmen and more - in just one square meter of fir forest, high in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Just a few days ago, hiking into a rare Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) swamp in southern Vermont with my camera and tripod slung over my shoulder I spotted a marvelous patch of forest floor covered with last year's American Beech leaves in all shades of brown. The understory plants had yet to sprout through the kaleidoscope of leaves.

Later, atop a granite bald among old and rare Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida), to cool and early for ants and other insects, I became enchanted with a small patch of moss and lichen growing among the cracks of glacially scoured stone. I captured just one square meter of each in my lens. And so it is born, a portfolio one square meter at a time. There's a lot to see in just one square meter.

________________________________

Source: From the blog One Square Meter by K.P. McFarland, who as a grown-up loves to share his observations with the Vermont Atlas of Life. You can too!

If you have photos of your view of one square meter, share them with the new Flickr group, One Square Meter, and tell a short story with each of your shots.

MACKENZIE WHIMBRELS COMPLETE THIRD LEG OF UNKNOWN LOOP MIGRATION ROUTE

2013-04-23T11:49:00.000-04:00

Scientists at the Center for Conservation Biology have tracked 3 whimbrels from wintering areas on the coast of Brazil on a nonstop, 4,000 mile (6,400 kilometer) flight to the Gulf of Mexico. This flight represents the third leg of a previously unknown loop migration route and connects four widely scattered locations in the conservation of this declining species.

The three birds named Mackenzie (for the river where they breed), Akpik (named for the cloudberry that the birds feed on in the fall) and Pingo (named for an arctic formation caused by permafrost) left their wintering grounds near Sao Luis, Brazil between 9 and 13 April. The birds flew nonstop for 95 to 100 hours averaging 40 miles per hour (67 kilometers per hour) before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. Originally captured and marked on the breeding grounds along the Mackenzie River in far western Canada in June of 2012, the birds took a bold fall migration route flying 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) to the east coast of Canada in mid-July to stage for 2 weeks before embarking on a marathon 4,300-mile (6,900-kilometer) flight out over the open ocean to the northern coast of South America. All three birds have spent just over 7 months in the extensive tidal system of the Gulf of Maranhao before initiating their migration north.

All three birds are currently staging in different locations. Akpik is staging in Laguna Madre within the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico a site known to be a critical wintering area for the closely related long-billed curlew. Mackenzie is near the Demieres Isles in southern Louisiana. Pingo is in and around Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge south of Houston, Texas the site of a recently discovered spring staging area of hemispheric importance to whimbrels. Understanding the connectivity of this site to breeding areas has become a high priority for the research community. The bird appears to be using farm fields that have been managed over the winter for migrating shorebirds.

Mackenzie, Akpik and Pingo, all from the same breeding location, have now linked sites in far-flung, unexpected regions in their orb of conservation. Important in their own right, each of these sites must be considered collectively for conservation efforts to be effective. Mackenzie, the bird fitted with the recycled transmitter of Machi (a bird shot on Guadeloupe in September of 2011) is now staging in the heart of the area impacted by the Deep Horizon Oil Spill. The spill began on 20 April, during the time of whimbrel staging in 2010. Such events highlight the fragility of conservation networks and the importance of locations and cultures working together toward common goals. Through these birds we now know that an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may impact a breeding population on the Mackenzie River, or a staging area in Nova Scotia, or a wintering area around the mouth of the Amazon. Understanding these linkages is a critical step in protecting these networks and the species that depend on them.

The three whimbrels are part of a larger project that has included 20 additional birds that have been tracked to better understand migratory pathways and locations that are critical for this declining species. The study has tracked whimbrels for more than 200,000 miles (322,000 kilometers) since 2008. The broader tracking project is a collaborative effort between The Center for Conservation Biology, The Canadian Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.

Source: Center for Conservation Biology press release

Key Bicknell's Thrush Habitat in Dominican Republic Under Siege

2013-04-19T18:03:00.001-04:00

Bicknell's Thrush in tree fern, Sierra de Bahoruco

Followers of VCE's work on Hispaniola over the past 20 years are well aware of Sierra de Bahoruco and its importance for overwintering Bicknell's Thrush. This rugged and remote mountain range in southwestern Dominican Republic supports some of the island's most impressive biodiversity, hosting nearly all of Hispaniola's 31 endemic bird species. Since 1994, VCE and our Dominican partners have conducted field research that helped establish Sierra de Bahoruco as the centerpiece of UNESCO's Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve, created in 2002.

Recently, however, our conservation colleagues at Grupo Jaragua have documented rampant illegal clearing and burning of cloud forests on Bahoruco's southern slopes, well within limits of the protected national park boundaries. While conducting Bicknell's Thrush surveys this past winter, long-time VCE associates Esteban Garrido and Jesus Almonte watched in alarm as the forests where they were finding thrushes disappeared before their eyes. Follow-up surveys revealed accelerating forest loss. Some areas had been planted with potatoes, avocado, beets, carrots, and beans. On others, cows grazed and makeshift ovens converted felled trees into charcoal.

While deforestation is a long-standing problem on Hispaniola, due largely to chronic economic hardships, much of the current clearing in southern Bahoruco appears to be the work of a handful of influential Dominican landowners. These individuals have instituted a sharecropping system, whereby Haitian immigrants clear and farm the land in exchange for a small share of the harvest. Compounding the issue, park boundaries are poorly marked, if at all, on the ground.


Esteban Garrido and Jesus Almonte surveying recently cleared cloud forest

A network of conservation partners inside and outside the DR, including VCE and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, are tackling this serious issue head-on. We have met with and formally expressed our concerns to the Mininstry of Environment, which has responsibility for enforcing protected areas regulations We are appealing to UNESCO to bring whatever resources it can to curb this untenable situation. Led by Grupo Jaragua, our collective actions have an underlying goal of reaching an amicable, peaceful resolution that protects the national park's forests without unfairly treating the Haitian immigrants who have been hired to do the work.

In the short term, Grupo Jaragua has launched a Friends of the Sierra de Bahoruco Facebook page for anyone wishing to keep abreast of developments (please "like" this page). Jaragua also plans to raise funds to conduct a thorough land tenure study as a means to inform and guide effective conservation interventions in the area.

Intact cloud forest understory in Sierra de Bahoruco

Much beyond Bicknell's Thrush and biodiversity is at stake in protecting the vulnerable forests of Sierra de Bahoruco. Intact forests are no less vital for humans than they are for flora and fauna, by providing clean water and preventing damaging erosion, among other ecosystem services. VCE and our partners are committed to ensuring that the cloud forests of Bahoruco continue to provide a secure haven for Bicknell's Thrush and the many other inhabitants - human and otherwise - that rely on them.

Photos (top to bottom) courtesy of Pedro Genaro Rodriguez, Yolanda Leon, and Eladio Fernandez

Discovering Species - Just a Click Away

2013-04-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation or BISON is the only system of its kind; a unique, web-based Federal resource for finding species in the U. S. and territories. Its size is unprecedented, offering more than 100 million mapped records of nearly every living species nationwide and growing. And the vast majority of the records are specific locations, not just county or state records. Many data collected by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies and their citizen scientist volunteers are shared to BISON.

BISON provides an "Area of Interest" search capability in which users can query by drawing the exact boundary around their area of interest, down to and including towns, villages, or even much smaller areas such as parks. For instance, New York City's Central Park has more than 100,000 "species occurrences" recorded in BISON, with each species noted in detail. Other BISON search options include querying the species by scientific or common name, year range, state, county, basis of record, or provider institution.

As for the results, BISON displays them in both an interactive map and a list format. Users can click on each species occurrence point to retrieve more information, such as the institution providing the data, the collector, the date collected, and whether it was from a collection or an observation. Further, occurrences can be dynamically visualized with more than 50 other layers of environmental information in the system. Extensive web services are also available for direct connections to other systems.

"The USGS is proud to announce this monumental resource", said Kevin Gallagher, Associate Director, Core Science Systems," and this is a testament to the power of combining the efforts of hundreds of thousands of professional and citizen scientists into a resource that uses Big Data and Open Data principles to deliver biodiversity information for sustaining the Nation's environmental capital".

"BISON is destined to become an indispensable toolkit to manage species occurrence data to support scientific, educational, and policy-making activities in the US", Dr. Erick Mata, Executive Director of the Encyclopedia of Life explained. "This is highly complementary and synergistic with EOL's efforts to raise awareness and understanding of living nature."

"With BISON, the USGS takes a big step toward making biodiversity data held within Federal agencies easier to find and use", added Mary Klein, President & CEO of NatureServe. "I am enthusiastic about future opportunities to work with USGS to increase collaboration among Federal, state and private data holders."

USGS Core Science Systems Mission Area, which developed the resource, expects that BISON users will be broad-based and include land managers, researchers, refuge managers, citizen scientists, agriculture professionals, fisheries managers, water resource managers, educators, and more.

Land managers, for instance, might be looking for a piece of land to purchase for conservation—but first they want to know what species have been documented for that parcel. BISON will tell them after only a few mouse clicks.

BISON serves as the U.S. Node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and will form an integral part of EcoINFORMA, the information delivery strategy in "Sustaining Environmental Capital: Protecting Society and the Economy," a recent report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

"BISON responds directly to a key need PCAST pointed out in 'Sustaining Environmental Capital' - to make Federal environmental data available, inter-operable, and usable to the public," said PCAST member Rosina Bierbaum, "We look forward to this 'biodiversity' hub being supplemented by complementary ecological data hubs by other Federal partners, to further the goal of helping communities across the Nation make increasingly wise planning and management decisions."

BISON already includes millions of points from the Federal investment in biodiversity research. It is formally cooperating with other Federal agencies to greatly expand the delivery of federally funded biodiversity data for the greatest possible good. Hundreds of thousands of citizen and professional scientists have collected the data in BISON. Non-governmental organizations, state and local governments, universities, and many others are also participating in this enormous undertaking.

The USGS has built and maintains BISON, which is hosted on the massive Federal computing infrastructure at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

To learn more, visit: http://bison.usgs.ornl.gov or contact the USGS BISON Team at BISON@usgs.gov.

The USGS Core Science Analytics and Synthesis program within Core Science Systems is home to BISON and focuses on innovative ways to manage and deliver scientific data and information. The program implements and promotes standards and best practices to enable efficient, data-driven science for decision-making that supports a rapid response to emerging natural resource issues. One of the ways this is accomplished is by developing national data products that increase our understanding of the Earth’s natural systems.

Loon Reconnaissance Flights and Ice Out

2013-04-15T11:41:00.000-04:00

Last week, volunteers Mitzi Queen and Mike Korkuc reported one adult on Halls Lake in Newbury and two adult loons on Lake Dunmore, respectively. The ice on these lakes was mostly gone.

On Sunday April 14 up on Little Averill Lake, two loons had landed along with some geese on the few hundred meters of open water in the shallow inlet, while the remaining 465 acres were still frozen over. This sighting was by loon volunteer Craig Nolan. On the same day on still frozen Martins Pond in Peacham, a single loon was observed circling overhead.

A single loon often returns within hours of the ice going out on lakes and ponds throughout the Northeast. How do loons know to return when ice-out dates vary by weeks from year to year? In 2012, many lakes were ice free by late March and early April; other years ice can remain until early May.

Reconnaissance flights are likely part of the answer such as that observed on Martins Pond yesterday. It would not take too long for a loon flying 60 mph to check some lakes and return to open water further south. But where are the staging areas? I have received a few observations over the years of loons using the Connecticut River. I have only received one report in April of a large group of loons on any waterbody (6 adults on Lake Salem in Derby, VT on April 24, 2011

- see photo). Is it mostly single loons and occasionally 2 or 3 moving their way up north independently utilizing open water here and there, and then the loons make flights further north to check on the status of their ponds? Do loons make major flights from their overwintering locations on the ocean and return if the lakes are still frozen? New satellite telemetry research may reveal what these patterns are in the search for open water, but we do not have the answers yet. Maybe I should paddle the Connecticut River this week for some early surveys. Maybe next year.
Eric Hanson, Vermont Loon Recovery Project Coordinator

Vermont Atlas of Life: March Photo-observation Winner!

2013-04-11T15:59:00.004-04:00

Despite March being known for mud and snow patches, it turned out to be the month full of beautiful and subtle colors in the Vermont Atlas of Life contest. Joanne Russo’s photo of a dark phase Rough-legged Hawk in flight on a snowy day edged out the other remarkable contenders. See her sighting at http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/210780

Congratulations to Joanne. There are still thousands undocumented Vermont species and locations to be reported. Maybe April is your month to win.

A big thanks to Larry Clarfeld, our February winner, for serving as the contest judge for March. Who wants to be our honorable volunteer judge to select four fantastic photo-observations for the April contest? Get your April shots uploaded to the atlas and you could be a winner!

The Annual Frog Symphony | Northern Woodlands Magazine

2013-04-10T09:46:00.001-04:00

The Annual Frog Symphony | Northern Woodlands Magazine