October eNews from VCE

eNews | October 2023

Autumn in Vermont © Kent McFarland

A Field Guide to October

The month of October reminds us of the cyclical nature of life. Like spring, autumn is a season of change. The forested hills fade from summer emerald to a watercolor painting of red, gold, and brown. Here’s your field guide to some moments you might not otherwise notice during these few precious weeks that feature colored hills beneath a deep blue sky, the calls of migrating geese high overhead, and the last Monarchs gliding silently southward.

VCE Wraps 32 Years on Mansfield with a Flourish

Quintessential “confusing” fall warblers on Mount Mansfield: Blackpoll (left) and Bay-breasted (right).

21 September 2023 © Charles Gangas

It's impossible to keep VCE biologists away from Mount Mansfield's ridgeline. We've been drawn there annually—some might say obsessively—for the past 32 years. Long after Bicknell's Thrushes (BITH) and Blackpoll Warblers have fledged their young and completed their post-breeding molt, VCE returns for an annual early autumn pilgrimage. Part recreation, part wrap-up of our summer field season, we can bank on BITH still being present and, usually, a strong showing of passage migrants in our mist nets. As always, our fortunes hinge on weather, as September's soggy finale so emphatically underscored. Read the full update on VCE's blog.

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We try to highlight the very best of each month in eNews, but so much goes on here at VCE! Many wonderful stories, tidbits, and project updates never make their way to the newsletter, but they do go up on our blog. Subscribe to the VCE blog to never miss an update! Just head over to our website and click on the "Blog" button at the top of the page.

IRAs, QCDs, and VCE

Dark-eyed Juncos © Michael Sargent

Did you know that if you are 70 ½ or older, you can donate up to $100,000 per year from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) without paying taxes on the distribution? This tax-smart strategy is called a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). It allows you to instruct your IRA administrator to send your gift directly from your IRA to one or more qualifying charities like VCE, and you don’t have to report it as taxable income. That can make a tremendous difference to you and the charitable causes you support.

If you’re considering a QCD for 2023, now is a great time to discuss your specific circumstances with your financial and tax advisors to see if a QCD is right for you. And if you have questions about directing your QCD to VCE, give us a call!

Questions? Give us a call!

Photo-observation of the Month

Gray Treefrog

by Joshua Phillips

Not the inhabitant one would expect to find in a nest box, this Gray Treefrog seems to have found a cozy shelter for hiding out and surveying the area. © Joshua Phillips

Congratulations to Joshua Phillips for winning the September 2023 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! His photo of an unexpected birdhouse occupant received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month.

That makes back-to-back wins of the Photo-observation of the Month for the wonderful Gray Treefrog! In contrast to last month’s froglet, here we have an adult Gray Treefrog capitalizing on the end of the breeding season for Vermont’s birds by taking up residency in a nest box. Gray Treefrogs are highly arboreal, so while it may be surprising to see a frog perched in a birdhouse like this, if any species were to find their way to this cozy abode, it’d be a Gray Treefrog. A mostly nocturnal species, Gray Treefrogs tend to stay out of sight for most of the day before ramping up their vocalizations and activity around dusk. With cooler temperatures on the way, Gray Treefrogs are beginning to seek out secluded spots to shelter away for the winter and brumate (an amphibian version of hibernation). Thanks to the anti-freezing properties of chemicals produced in their liver, these tough frogs are capable of freezing solid while their cells remain intact. This particular Gray Treefrog shouldn’t bet on being the sole occupant of this nest box for long, as plenty of Vermont’s overwintering bird species taking advantage of a cozy place to spend a cold winter night would also enjoy a surprise frozen frog snack. While this Gray Treefrog seeks out a tree crevice or a sheltered spot under leaf litter to spend the winter, you can learn more about the species in Vermont from the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas.

Using Both Old and New Technology to

Monitor Forests

by Ryan Rebozo

Two deer caught on the thermal camera on The Dome in the Green Mountain National Forest

When VCE first partnered with Raritan Valley Community College to monitor forest response to prescribed burning in the Green Mountain National Forest, we had some basic questions: what data do we want to collect, and how will we collect it? After all, a project's methods will dictate what can be learned from monitoring efforts. Read the full post on the VCE blog.

The Rising Seas and Stakes for Coastal

New England Wildlife

By Jason Hill

New England is getting smaller each year—not in a quaint "where everybody knows your name" kind of way. The sea is rising. If you have been vacationing off-planet for the last half-century, you may have missed this news, but it will be hard to ignore moving forward…or should I say…moving up. As global temperatures rise, oceans warm and thermally expand, and icebergs and glaciers melt faster, resulting in sea level rise. The last two years (2021 and 2022) have seen the warmest years on record for the sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Maine, where sea temperatures are 3.72 °F warmer than the long-term average (Gulf of Maine Research Institute). On top of that, the Gulf of Maine sea surface temperatures are rising faster than at least 97% of the world's oceans due to the Gulf's shape and shallow depth and configuration of two major ocean currents (Gulf of Maine Research Institute). As the Gulf of Maine heats up, sea levels are rising there at an accelerating pace. Over the last half-century, Maine's sea level rose about six inches, but it is predicted to rise another 1.5 feet by 2050 and almost 4 feet by 2100 (NOAA; Maine Climate Council).

New Research on Yard Management

for Promoting Biodiversity

Habitat loss and degradation are the primary causes of unprecedented biodiversity decline. Results of a new study led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, co-researched by VCE staff scientist Desirée L. Narango, suggest that a “Humanity for Habitat” stewardship practice for residential yards can benefit biodiversity, climate resilience, and people.

Published in BioScience, “Humanity for Habitat: Residential Yards as an Opportunity for Biodiversity Conservation,” details practical property management activities to promote biodiversity. Residential yards support regional biodiversity, and features within yards and across neighborhoods interact to provide critical habitat for imperiled species, including birds, pollinators, and mammals.

Read the full press release on the US Forest Service website.

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.