December is the start of bird feeding season

Winter bird feeding is a great way to observe and learn about our year-round bird residents such as black capped chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays.

Nature enthusiasts of all ages are invited to take part in a beginner’s bird walk through Wright Park, a segment of the Trail Around Middlebury. This annual event will take place 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 21, and is hosted by the Otter Creek Audubon … (read more)

Magnolia warbler, black-throated green warbler, blackpoll warbler, pine warbler, mourning warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, orange-crowned warbler and yellow warbler.

It’s a familiar sight in winter: An inky-black raven soaring over a landscape white with snow. Though similar in appearance to the American crow, the common raven (Corvus corax) is distinguished by its large size, fluffy neck feathers, and long, thick bea … (read more)

The Otter Creek Audubon’s three-part Cabin Fever Lecture Series will continue with “It’s Easter and It’s Chilly!” on Thursday, Feb. 20, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., at the Bixby Library in Vergennes.

Want to become a birder or improve your birding skills this winter? Erin Talmage, executive director of the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington, will give a presentation on Vermont’s winter birds at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23, as part of the Salisbury … (read more)

Walking along a dirt road last winter, I heard a collection of pleasant, sputtering trills coming from a stand of conifers and hardwoods nearby. I’m used to the winter conversation of chickadees around feeder and woods, the cawing of crows and blue jays i … (read more)

Winter bird feeding is a great way to observe and learn about our year-round bird residents such as black capped chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays. It’s also a great time to learn about winter visitors such as evening and pine grosbeaks.

Otter Creek Audubon Society will host the talk  given by Rob Bierregaard, Ph.D., research associate of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m., The talk, which will be held at the Champlain Val … (read more)

I don’t know why birds so often show up in my life, and therefore in my writing. But they do, often serving as conduits for some sort of metaphor about life.

Few birding experiences rival hearing the haunting call of the loon or seeing them glide by in protected coves on a lake. Be careful, however, to keep them at a distance. 

Bobolinks, Savannah sparrows and eastern meadowlarks enrich our summers with their songs, but their populations continue to suffer long-term declines due to the loss in quantity and quality of their grassland habitat.

Nature enthusiasts of all ages are invited to take part in a beginner’s bird walk through Wright Park, a segment of the Trail Around Middlebury.

As husbands go, Mark does all right. But lately I’m finding he’s letting me down in one important way: He shows less enthusiasm for wild birds than I feel is appropriate for a man of his age.

It begins with a faint flutter, like a rustle of paper. Enough to make you stop and listen, wondering if you might have imagined it.