VINS Constructs a New Commissary

New Commissary

Chris Collier – Senior Director, Operations & Exhibits VINS is excited to construct a new commissary and add to our ambassador raptor enclosures to facilitate both our increased biosecurity due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), and an increased number of ambassador raptors to support our on-site and outreach education programs. With the increase of…

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The Invention of Nature – Book Review

Invention of Nature

Charles F. Rattigan – VINS Executive Director Recently, I was asked to share some recommendations of books that are particularly important to my understanding of nature and the role that humans play in shaping the environment through actions that either harm or sustain the natural world.  I thought for this first effort, I’d recommend what…

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Flying Squirrel Vocalizations

Flying Squirrel

VINS is partnering with Dartmouth College to study flying squirrel vocalizations. The VINS Nature Center was chosen as a perfect location because of numerous and consistent sightings of flying squirrels. VINS research staff and Dartmouth researchers collected several individuals using live traps and specially designed platforms from the woods around the property. Researchers also utilized…

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Remembering VINS’ Recent Past

VINS-Round-Table

What do you like about working at VINS that has kept you here for so many years? LC: I love the people that I work with. I think we’re a good team, and we’re accepting of everyone’s new ideas. I also love working with the public and listening to their stories, especially during our private…

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You Are Nature’s Best Hope

Nature's Best Hope

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 VINS hosted Douglas Tallamy via Zoom for a lecture about “Nature’s Best Hope” – spoiler alert, it’s you! Douglas Tallamy is the T.A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has taught for 41 years. His main focus…

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Hanover High School Kestrel Boxes

HHS Kestrel Boxes

Students in the woodworking class at Hanover High School recently completed construction of several American Kestrel boxes, which they then donated to the VINS kestrel monitoring project. Using a completed box as a model, the students were able to draw up plans to build their own boxes using materials that were already available in their…

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Flying Squirrels

flying squirrel

The woods at our Quechee nature center are home to a population of flying squirrels. We encountered three individuals during the small mammal trapping portion of our tick ecology project this summer and observed several others while reviewing video from our camera trapping throughout the year. All of our encounter data was submitted to the…

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Finding Middlebury

Middlebury

Middlebury, one of the Red-tailed Hawks in our Winter Raptor Project, has reestablished connection since he last transmitted data in April!

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Tagging Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterfly

This year seems to be solidly average for monarch butterflies at VINS. Tagging continues through the month but there are not huge numbers like the summer of 2019.

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CWBR Updates & A Special Release

By Lauren Adams, Lead Wildlife Keeper Ah, winter.  The “quiet” season in wildlife rehabilitation.  Around here, we call it Barred Owl season.  When the cold air creeps in, the mornings are frosty, and nighttime descends in mid-afternoon, this is when New England is up against its toughest test.  Barred Owls, unlike many birds that populate our skies…

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