Nature Blog

Rough-legged Hawk Movement Update 6.16.22

A Rough-legged Hawk in Vermont in June?! Apparently!

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Broad-winged Hawk Research

Broad-winged Hawks are small stocky hawks of the buteo genus commonly found throughout Northeastern and North central North America. Their backs are brown and they have chestnut barring on the chest and abdomen. They have a notable black and white striped tail visible during flight. They produce a high pitched whistle call which is an easy identifier, as they are more secretive during nesting season. Though they can be spotted in the thousands during migration. These huge flocks are called kettles.

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Rough-legged Hawk Movement Update 4.18.22

Spring may finally be upon us, despite forecasts calling for snow in the coming week, and our Rough-legged Hawks are back in Canada continuing to move north for breeding in the arctic.

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VINS & Landmark College Collaboration Reflection

Landmark students set out to uncover the mystery of how many sex chromosomes individual birds contain in their cells and ultimately, run gel electrophoresis to determine the sex of some of VINS Raptor Ambassadors.

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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. 

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2021 Rehabilitation Success Stories

Rehabilitation staff. Consider making a donation to VINS on Giving Tuesday (November 30, 2021) to support the care of injured and orphaned wild birds.

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Weybridge Osprey

VINS Staff is excited to announce the successful renesting and fledging of an injured nestling osprey that came to VINS after being found on the ground post nest destruction from a storm.

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Winter Raptor Research Updates From the Field – Season Wrap Up

With spring in full swing we have officially wrapped up our winter raptor field season. Both Middlebury and Goodrich have been reliably checking in and sending location data for us to analyze. So far each bird has revealed drastically different movement patterns.

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Winter Raptor Research Updates From the Field – Week 3

The last few weeks have been excellent for winter bird watching. Since our transmitters are arriving later than expected, we’ve decided to change strategies and set up standardized survey routes. While we’re mostly focusing on raptors, we love all birds and can’t help but stop and watch some of the large flocks of winter birds we’ve been seeing too.

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Center for Wild Bird Rehab -Looking Back on 2020

VINS Center for Wild Bird Rehabilitation has experienced its busiest year yet, receiving a total of 1,025 patients.

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