The month of October is the time to band Vermont’s smallest owl! As the Northern Saw-whet Owl is migrating south for the winter, Central Vermont and the North Branch corridor see a flush of these birds move through the area. Facing dark and cold nights, NBNC staff and volunteers actively netted, banded, and released 123…
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By Sean Beckett NBNC Director of Natural History Programs I was in the garden lamenting what a single conservationist could really do amid a planet in crisis, when a Colletes latitarsis bee landed in my tomatillo flower. A local bee biologist gave me two beautiful tomatillo starters this spring, on the condition that I photograph any and…
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The Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth is a group of Vermont residents and conservationists, including NBNC staff, who have come together to advance biodiversity preservation in the state. The Alliance gets its inspiration from the legendary biologist E. O. Wilson, his Half-Earth Project, and its vision to conserve half the Earth’s oceans and land for nature.…
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By Amy Butler The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges for teachers, students, schools, and families. One response has been increased interest in outdoor learning as a safer alternative to traditional classrooms. Over the past year Inside-Outside: Nature-Based Educators has produced three position statements aimed at helping schools embrace outdoor learning year round. These statements…
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Rain patters as the streetlights kick on in the fading grey of daylight. Within the hour, amphibians will be on the move. Volunteer Amphibian Crossing Guards will be on the move too. Throughout the spring, dedicated community scientists visit sites where frogs and salamanders make dangerous road crossings as they move from their winter…
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By Laura Nikolaides (reposted from https://lauraniko.medium.com) “Maria Libby had always wanted to make outdoor education a fundamental part of the school district she runs near Camden, Maine. Libby, a former Outward Bound instructor, had a bounty of outdoor resources in her district, a river, a lake, an ocean, and mountains. Taking advantage of the natural…
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The Christmas Bird Count is a global community science project organized by the National Audubon Society. At 121 years old, it is the longest-running project of its kind. In the weeks surrounding Christmas, groups fan out over established 15-mile-wide count circles with the mission of finding every feathered creature therein. While new circles are added…
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By Sean Beckett NBNC Director of Natural History and Community Science Programs The Northern Saw-whet Owl migration season is over, and results are in! Our staff and apprentices banded 78 owls this year, bringing North Branch Nature Center’s grand total to 716. While not our largest year on record (181 in 2018), this season still…
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Outdoor Learning in Cold Weather: a position statement for educators in a pandemic By Amy Butler, NBNC Director of Education, in collaboration with Inside-Outside: Nature-Based Educators of New England Since schools reopened for in-person teaching and learning, those communities where teachers and students have been outdoors in nature as much as possible have reported excellent…
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By Zac Cota, NBNC Teacher-Naturalist The first and second graders at Moretown Elementary know they share their forest with many other animals. Chickadees sing while searching for food in the treetops. Worms and slugs live under moist logs. The antics of Red Squirrels provide daily entertainment. One special visitor, however, left only a trace…
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713 Elm Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
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