Posts by jbird24
Avian Rehabilitation Workshops at VINS
If you are working toward your rehabilitation license or preparing to begin earning your license, VINS is hosting a series of workshops geared toward avian rehabilitation. The classes include a presentation and hands-on lab led by longtime Vermont avian rehabilitator Allison Stark. This workshop series, which includes six courses beginning Jan. 22 and running through…
Read MoreLook For It Now: Tracks in the Snow
By Katie ChristmanVINS Education InternOne of my favorite winter activities is looking for animal signs. I relish putting on my snowshoes, breathing in that cold winter air and searching for the clues of the person or animal who was out in the snow before me. The best part about looking for animal signs is that…
Read MoreLook For It Now: Pine Siskin
By Sara EisenhauerVINS Wildlife Keeper It’s a brisk 24 degrees outside this morning as I step out to top off my bird feeders. The usual customers are waiting: black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, and American goldfinches. As I fill a tube-feeder, I hear a high-pitched zip — almost like a coat zipper that is being pulled…
Read MoreBest of Luck, Young Loon!
This time of year, most of the waterbirds whose songs we’ve savored over the summer months have long since left for warmer waters. Loons — one of my favorite birds of summer — have vacated Vermont to head to the ocean waters of the lower New England coast. Watch a video of the loon’s release!Well,…
Read MoreA Little Christmas Cheer
Happy Holidays! This brightly colored fellow came into Wildlife Services on December 17 after being found on the Middlebury College campus, unable to fly. We found that his right wing was drooping and missing feathers, which made us suspect that a cat had done the damage. He has undergone treatment to prevent infection caused by…
Read MoreLucky Duck!
After more than a month of rehabilitation, our female mallard recovered from lead poisoning and was ready to be released into the wild. We asked for your help and you delivered: multiple callers and Facebookers responded with ideas of local mallard populations that our duck could join. The one we picked ended up being the…
Read MoreLook For It Now: Wing Tracks
When birds land and take off in the snow they can leave behind more than just footprints. Whether you have three feet of snow or just a dusting, as we do in Quechee at the moment, you can find these lovely signs in the snow. Look for the delicate little lines where their wings flapped…
Read MoreGot Mallards? We Need Your Help!
The VINS Wildlife Services department needs your help! We have a female mallard in our care who is ready to return to the wild. Problem is, we don’t want to send her off on her own! Do you know of any mallard populations in Vermont’s Upper Valley, or within a 1/2-hour drive of Quechee? We’d…
Read MoreAll Owls, All the Time
These days, it seems as though our incoming patients are all barred owls, all the time. In the past month, the VINS Wildlife Services department has received 15 injured barred owls, making us wonder if we’ll have a repeat of the winter of 2007-08. During that winter, VINS received more than 40 (yes, forty! That’s…
Read MoreRaptor Research at VINS
One of the ways VINS motivates people to care about the environment is through research. Recently, Tufts grad student Jana Thomas came to VINS’ Wildlife Services Department to record data on raptors for her Master’s thesis. Below, she summarizes her project. In the photos, VINS intern Katie Christman (right) assists Thomas in handling our red-tailed…
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