Record-Breaking Baby Bird Season at VINS: A 2024 Recap
By Grae O’Toole, Director of the Center for Wild Bird Rehabilitation and Ambassador Care As the leaves begin to change and the air grows crisp, we at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) find ourselves reflecting on an extraordinary summer season at our Center for Wild Bird Rehabilitation and Ambassador Care (CWBRAC). The past…
Nest Box Monitoring
by Jim Armbruster, Lead, Center for Field Research The VINS Research team have 13 successful American Kestrel nest boxes this year that we have been monitoring: 2 of which were already successful with all 5 eggs hatching; 3 of the nests were successful with 4 egg hatches, and the remaining boxes are still being monitored…
Winter Raptor Research Updates From the Field – Season 2 Wrap Up
As fast as winter began, our winter raptor surveys have finished! We had a great few months looking for birds of prey in Addison County, with lots of snow cover and consistent cold temperatures.
Tick Research Updates From the Field – Season Wrap Up
August marked the last round of mammal trapping as part of our collaborative research project with Dartmouth PhD student Kaitlin McDonald.
American Kestrel Monitoring
Our latest American Kestrel Monitoring Project is an aspect of fulfilling the VINS’ mission that utilizes our expertise in working with raptors and leverages our network of dedicated followers.
Staghorn Sumac: A Winter Oasis
Staghorn sumac is an essential support food for winter animals.
Four Bird Books for Christmas
Written by Gene Walz, friend of VINS What to get a birdwatcher for a Christmas gift? Four new books top the list, three by women. They all show how much birdwatching, birders, and serious bird study have changed over the years. Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder: A Memoir By Julia Zarankin Divorced and at loose…
Lichen or Not: The Fascinating World of a Symbiotic Organism
Carl Linnaeus. The Linnaeus. The guy who documented and classified a sizable chunk of Earth’s known species, the father of taxonomy, the guy you learned about in high school biology and immediately forgot, insulted one of my favorite taxonomic groups.
Project FeederWatch Season Summary
Another season of the citizen science program, Project FeederWatch is behind us, and it was a very big winter! Now in its 32nd year, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s winter bird-watching project aims to connect people with the wildlife in their backyards, and with the world of scientific research.
Spring Brings River Otter Pups
by Karen Ruth RichardsonVINS Volunteer One morning, a January dawn, I walked the VINS trails before my volunteer shift. I turned on a trail which ran alongside the icy river. I heard a crack in the ice. I crouched down and held still. This was the crepuscular time of day (at dawn) when many mammals…
