Registration open for 10th Middlebury Maple Run Runners can sign up now for the May 6 Middlebury Maple Run, a benefit race marking its 10th anniversary this year. Founded in 2009, the event has grown from 225 runners in its first year to more than 850 last year. It now includes a two-person relay race,… Read More »
I have been living with an otter. He’s long and sleek, a graceful swimmer with an insatiable appetite for fish. At first he was just my boy, a chubby little toddler, happy to snuggle and follow his big sister around. But on the first snow fall of his second year of life, I watched him… Read More »
Anglers should check their bait for non-native mosquitofish. A keen-eyed angler spotted something unusual in his bait bucket that led to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department recently citing a Vermont baitfish wholesaler, Hog Island Wholesale Bait and Tackle in Swanton, for illegally importing unapproved fish species into the state. Non-native “mosquitofish” are native to… Read More »
By Carolyn Lorié I have spent about a decade as a backyard birder and have learned quite a bit in that time. I can instantly recognize the call of a red-winged blackbird and the sweet summer song of the wood thrush. I know a scarlet tanager the moment I see one and can distinguish between… Read More »
Waterfowl hunters who did not remove their hunting blinds from the waters of the state already must do so on or before Feb. 15 on Lake Champlain and on or before May 15 on inland waters, according to a reminder from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. State law requires removal of the blinds before these… Read More »
Waterfowl hunters who did not remove their hunting blinds from the waters of the state already must do so on or before Feb. 15 on Lake Champlain and on or before May 15 on inland waters, according to a reminder from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. State law requires removal of the blinds before… Read More »
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says preliminary numbers show 15,949 deer were taken during Vermont’s 2017 deer hunting seasons. Reports from big game check stations indicate hunters took 3,585 deer in archery season, 1,461 in youth season, 7,272 in rifle season, and 3,631 in muzzleloader season. “The legal buck harvest of 9,477 was 8… Read More »
This holiday season marks the 118th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, a tradition among Vermont’s birding community. The counts has begun and runs through Jan. 5 each year. Each event is led by an experienced birder, so novice birdwatchers are welcome to participate. Organizers and participants include birders and biologists from Audubon Vermont, the Vermont… Read More »
It’s that time of year for Vermonters to put up their bird feeders. With that in mind, Vermont Fish and Wildlife officials recommend some bird-feeding basics. John Buck, Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s migratory bird biologist, said in a statement that people should only feed birds during the winter months to avoid attracting bears. Bears are… Read More »
by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul The fields around our home are something of a bear buffet from mid-summer through fall: wild blueberries in July followed by blackberries, then apples come September, with beechnuts falling from the trees skirting the mown area. In 13 years here, we’ve seen a mother bear noshing on fallen apples while her… Read More »