Uncategorized
The Plainfield Christmas Bird Count: Reflections on 60 Years of Birding
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…
Read MoreOwl Season Recap: new friends, old friends, and 312 sharp talons in 2020
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…
Read MoreTeaching and Learning through Winter and COVID-19
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…
Read MoreOutdoor Educators Share Tips for Learning in Nature
We invite you to check out this great article in KidsVT by Heather Fitzgerald, interviewing several outdoor education organizations, including NBNC, about new opportunities for learning in nature this fall, given the restrictions and realities around COVID-19 and the classroom. Enjoy! — “A few weeks ago, as I was listening to a podcast about going…
Read MoreMoths of Cloud Bridge by Maya Akazawa – An Online Art Exhibit
In celebration of National Moth Week (July 18-26), we’re delighted to host this “e-opening” of Moths of Cloud Bridge, a multimedia collage and embroidery exhibit by Maya Akazawa, featuring moths encountered “at the sheet” at the Cloudbridge Nature Reserve in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Part of the NBNC family since she was 6 years…
Read MoreThe Imperative of Diversity and Equity
This is a Red Trillium. It exists here because a beetle pollinates it, an ant disperses it, a deer eats it, trees shade it, and a rich soil nourishes it. Year after year, this trillium and all members of its ecological community thrive because of a shared imperative of diversity, and interdependence on that diversity.…
Read More