Your New Way to Wildlife

Here’s one more reason to go online before going outside. My pals at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) today launched a new web site that features breaking news about birds, insects, amphibians and other wildlife here in Vermont and around the world.

VCE’s “Newsfeed” is designed to highlight pioneering wildlife research and to inspire anyone to get outdoors to discover and enjoy wildlife. The service, under the link “Get News,” is now live at VCE’s site: www.vtecostudies.org.

I know, I know – this is 2014. It’s just another web site. Web sites aren’t news anymore. But, hey, news is news. And this Newsfeed is cool. How do I know? The Newsfeed is my idea. I developed the entire web site with VCE’s Kent McFarland and our amazing web designer, Gabe Halberg of Dadra Design.

Many of you already know VCE (where I’m a research associate and part-time writer and editor). Based in Norwich, VCE promotes wildlife conservation through scientific research and citizen engagement. Working in partnership with governments, conservation groups and other scientists, VCE conducts field work from Canada to South America. VCE also recruits volunteer “citizen naturalists” to help monitor wildlife.

The Newsfeed will take readers to the frontiers of wildlife biology and nature appreciation. This week’s news items include, for example, the arrival of Snowy Owls to the Northeast, a “Field Guide to Hunting Season,” and new research about a fungus that threatens to wipe out salamanders across the U.S. VCE’s Newsfeed, which is part of a complete redesign of the group’s web site, also offers easy access to other wildlife resources:

• Outdoor Radio, VCE’s monthly program on wildlife, produced with Vermont Public Radio, can be heard on-demand at the site.
• VCE’s Blog features regular updates from the group’s biologists working in Vermont, Canada, the Caribbean, and as far as South America.
• An Events Calendar highlights public lectures, outdoor activities and natural history events.

Although VCE is best known for research on birds, the group’s conservation biologists also support Vermonters who enjoy any “watchable wildlife.” In a project called the Vermont Atlas of Life, VCE, with the public’s help, is creating a free, online library – with maps, photos and data – of virtually every living thing in the state.