The Caterpillar Lab staff will lead participants on a tour of moth taxonomy, diversity, identification, and ecology in this special, small-group workshop for naturalists. We’ll begin with a classroom overview of moth morphology and strategies for learning to identify the bewildering diversity of moths in our region. We’ll also discuss the equipment, setup, and habitats that make for successful moth stations. As the moths arrive at the lights, we’ll practice identification while turning our attention towards the life history and ecology of some of the visitors. By the end of the evening, beginners will have the foundational knowledge to recognize major moth groups, while more experienced students will gain proficiency in species identification. All participants will leave with a renewed sense of awe and wonder, and many new examples of astonishing natural history found in our moth diversity.

Participants will learn to use game cameras to capture images of Vermont wildlife. The course will cover basics from equipment and setup to particular strategies to meet particular goals, be that photographing one particular species or a broad backyard species inventory. We'll review concepts important for successful camera trapping during Thursday evening webinars, then put those concepts into practice during Saturday morning hikes at NBNC. This course is intended for beginners, though would be good practice for those with some experience who are hoping to improve their results. Instructed by NBNC Teacher-Naturalist Pete Kerby-Miller.

Join naturalists/trackers Jonathan Shapiro of Fox Paw School and Dave Muska of North Branch Nature Center for a three-month wildlife tracking immersion! Participants will deepen their tracking and trailing skills through expert field instruction and independent study in a shared community of practice. Students will leave with richer skills in identifying and interpreting animal trails, and a deeper connection to our wild neighbors.

From bobcats to hawks, all animals leave sign of their activities.  Join Dave Muska as he introduces you to the fundamentals of tracking and awareness to better understand the stories animals leave behind. In this class, you’ll be introduced to basic tracking skills and concepts such as clear print identification, track patterns, as well as techniques to develop your skill in tracking. This is a great class for photographers, hunters, or anyone who wishes to deepen their outdoor experience.

This course of study is designed to acquaint the student with historic and contemporary herbal medicines, industrial materials, and foods of the Vermont/New Hampshire Abenakis and their Wabanaki neighbors.  Using the academic discipline of Ethnobotany, counterbalanced with a Native American perspective, we will explore many facets of the relations of our region's Indigenous and plant communities.

An introduction to the mosses of cold-temperate and boreal forests, emphasizing growth form, field characters, ecological patterns, and geography. Indoor sessions to learn the common species, field trips to locate them in the woods; lots of looking, comparing, drawing, discussing; an hour or two of stories about mosses and forests and the planet; a little microscopy to show you what the next steps look like.

Wasps; misunderstood, often maligned, and commonly underestimated. These amazing insects are vastly diverse, complex in their life cycles, and vital to our ecosystems. As pollinators, predators, and parasitoids, they fill many vital –and often overlooked– roles in the biosphere. In this course we will learn how vital these insects are, and gain a greater appreciation for them through lecture and outdoor exploration at North Branch Nature Center.

When it comes to pollination, honeybees get all the attention, but the vast majority of the work is credited to a diverse group of organisms that call New England home. There are over 300 species of native bees in Vermont alone, and they are responsible for pollinating ~80% of flowering plants and ~66% of our food crops. Not to mention dozens of species of butterflies, thousands of species of moths, myriad wasps, beetles, flies, birds, and microorganisms that all take part in the complex ecology of plant reproduction.

The grasses are our most diverse plant family in settled areas, and our second most diverse, after sedges, in forests, glades, and wetlands. They are interesting and rewarding: graceful, intricate, ecologically sensitive. If you don’t know them, you are missing a lot. If you are meeting them for the first time, you are in for a treat.

Ferns are our constant companions in the North Woods, yet many naturalists never get to know them due to their cryptic characteristics. In this course, we'll become familiar with ferns and their allies through an exploration of their natural history, evolution, and identification.

This class uses multiple field sites to demonstrate how we understand key aspects of northern Vermont’s glacial geologic history. In particular, we will observe a variety of landforms and sediments created by glaciers and focus on the different geologic processes that were active when the landforms and sediments formed. We will then use our understanding of how these landforms and sediments formed to interpret the changing environments existing in northern Vermont during the last 25,000 years.

Mushrooms have fascinated and mystified humankind for ages. From ancient origin stories and shamanic practice to modern systematic analysis, fungi intrigue us culturally, medicinally, and scientifically. In this course, participants will explore the diversity and ecological importance of the kingdom of fungi. Over this two-day course, participants will learn the fundamentals of mushroom identification through a combination of classroom and field experience. Topics include fungi ecology, taxonomy, field identification, morphology, edibility, toxicity, fungi as medicine, bioremediation, utilitarian function, as well as ‘best’ harvesting practices.

The grasses are our most diverse plant family in settled areas, and our second most diverse, after sedges, in forests, glades, and wetlands. They are interesting and rewarding: graceful, intricate, ecologically sensitive. If you don’t know them, you are missing a lot. If you are meeting them for the first time, you are in for a treat.