Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) © Kent McFarland
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April brings a burst of life to the rugged Vermont landscape. Our long dormant senses awaken. The sweet smell of soil rises to our nose. As the soil warms, Streptomyces bacteria spew chemical weapons against other bacteria, creating to our noses a distinct earthy smell. Our ears perk skyward at dusk as a Woodcock chatters and twitters across the sky. Spring Peepers burst forth in the evening with up to 4,000 peeps an hour. Blades of wild leeks slice through the soggy, brown autumn remains to release sweet-onion perfume. Bright, white Hepatica opens for wild bees and provides a feast for our eyes. Returning Tree Swallows dance over ponds and marshes. From bees to crayfish, life is on the move. Here’s our guide to some of the joys of April.
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VCE Executive Director Receives Partners in Flight Lifetime Achievement Award |
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Chris at the entrance to Parque Nacional Bayamesa in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra, taken February 2019.
© Jorge Tamano
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We are thrilled to announce that VCE Executive Director Chris Rimmer recently received the David N. Pashley Lifetime Achievement Award from Partners in Flight (PIF)! Each year, PIF awards recognize exceptional contributions to landbird ecology. With his decades of experience conducting innovative research and building collaborations across Bicknell’s Thrush lifecycle range—not to mention helping to form VCE into the unique organization it is today—we know that Chris is a well-deserving recipient of this award. You can find all the details in the VCE newsroom.
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Mountain Birdwatch Looks Good on You!
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Close-up of the new Mountain Birdwatch shirt design. |
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This year, we are excited to offer a new Mountain Birdwatch shirt design created by Abbie Castriotta, one of VCE's ECO AmeriCorps members! Abbie's design celebrates the commitment and dedication of past, present, and future Mountain Birdwatch community scientists who travel to remote locations, hike tough trails, camp under the stars, and wake before 4 a.m. to count birds in the high-elevation spruce-fir forests of our northeastern mountains. The data collected during these early-morning point counts help to illuminate population trends of our montane birds and inform management decisions. The new t-shirts, long-sleeved shirts, and sweatshirts are available here, and the original design is still available here. Your purchases will help support this and other VCE research programs.
If hiking in our mountains, watching wildlife, and contributing to research sounds like your cup of tea, we would love to hear from you! There are still routes in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York that need observers this June. Check out the available routes here and contact Jason Hill (jhill@vtecostudies.org) with any questions or to adopt a route!
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Join us for Birdathon on May 19, 2022 |
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Eastern Meadowlark © Charles Gangas |
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Around the peak of spring migration in mid-May, birdwatchers and naturalists across Vermont will set out with more determination (and coffee) than usual. It's Birdathon time! This year, we hope to beat last year's total of 119 species identified and raise $50,000 to support VCE’s biodiversity conservation work. Whether you choose to make a donation or form a team of your own, your support is vital for reaching our goals.
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Dr. Kara Belinsky (middle, blue shirt) and her solar array team. Photo courtesy of Dr. Kara Belinsky.
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Don't miss the last Suds & Science of 2022! Tune in at 7 pm on May 3 for "How can we design better suburbs, forest preserves, and clean energy infrastructure for wildlife and humans?" presented by Dr. Kara Belinsky. If you're curious about how renewable energy infrastructure affects wildlife habitats, this talk is a must-watch. Register on the VCE website.
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West Virginia White © Kent McFarland |
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From butterflies to dragonflies and everything in between, join one of our biodiversity missions this spring. Naturalists of all ages and abilities are helping us monitor Vermont's flora and fauna. The Vermont Atlas of Life missions are projects that are short and easy for just about anyone to join, and they contribute invaluable observations for science and conservation. Pick one or several, and join the community! Coming up in April are two missions that need your help.
Dragonfly migration has been observed on every continent except Antarctica, with some species performing spectacular long-distance mass movements. Like birds, millions of Common Green Darners migrate north in the spring and south in the fall. We discovered that Common Green Darner spring migration closely follows the average daily temperature of 48°F northward. Will climate change shift the species' migration and arrival dates? Help beat our predictions and detect changes by joining the Northeast Darner Flight Watch. Visit the mission and view a live map of arrival predictions and darner observations.
Spring is changing. The snow is melting earlier, wildflowers are blooming sooner, and trees are leafing out faster. We want to learn how an unusual butterfly that flies only in forests in early spring, the West Virginia White, is faring—and you can help us find out! Your mission: from now until early June, locate a patch of rich, hardwood forest, walk a transect (daily, weekly, whatever works for you), count all the butterflies you find, and report them to our mission. Even if you don’t find any butterflies, zeros are essential to report too. Can you break the early or late record for a West Virginia White sighting? Who will have the highest count? Can we find them in places they’ve never been recorded? Join the West Virginia White Watch and help us find out! Visit the mission data collection site at eButterfly and view results from other watchers.
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As spring progresses, nature offers much to anticipate—warmer weather, returning migrants, bursts of new growth. Although many of us also look forward to longer daylight hours, they do mean increasingly early wake-ups for avid birders who want to catch the dawn chorus. For birding enthusiasts, the promise of a steaming cup of coffee helps lure us out of bed before sunrise.
This spring, consider aligning your morning cup with your love of birds by switching to Birds & Beans Bird Friendly® Coffee! This Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC)-certified coffee represents a gold standard in ethical and sustainable coffee business. Bird Friendly® coffee is sourced from family farms in Latin America that provide sustainable, forest-like habitats for birds. Rather than being grown on farms that have been cleared of vegetation, Bird Friendly® coffees are planted under a canopy of trees that provide food, shelter, and habitat for local and migratory birds.
If this sounds like your cup of tea—err, coffee—and you live near Norwich, VT, you can join the Norwich Coffee Club for local pickup! Here are a few comments from current members:
- I would pay even more for these awesome beans and this great cause.
- I like this coffee, and I like supporting bird-friendly, shade-grown, farmer-supported coffee.
- The coffee is really good!
If you live too far away to pick up locally, visit Birds & Beans' website to order online, or ask your favorite co-op to carry this delicious coffee.
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Photo-observation of the Month
Eastern Bluebirds
by Chelsea Carroll
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A neat row of Eastern Bluebirds huddled together on a chilly March day. © Chelsea Carroll |
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Congratulations to Chelsea Carroll for winning the March 2022 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Her photo of almost a dozen Eastern Bluebirds perched shoulder-to-shoulder on a chilly March day received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month. Visit the VCE Blog for more info and view fantastic images of the runners-up in the March 2022 Photo-observation of the Month!
Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking 'fav' on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries—and you could be a winner!
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The Vermont Center for Ecostudies promotes wildlife conservation across the Americas using the combined strength of scientific research and community engagement. Find us online at: vtecostudies.org
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