Congratulations to Bernie Paquette for winning the August 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! His photo of an American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) butterfly he found at Mobbs Farm received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month. Bernie reported that the butterfly enjoyed riding on his finger for more than 150 steps while he walked.

Its elongated mouth-parts resemble the stem of a dead leaf. They use this, combined with their wing shape and coloration, to be camouflaged from predators when hanging upside-down under a tree branch. But they are perhaps best known for their incredible irruptions and migrations that lead to sightings far north of their normal range.

Range of Spiny Hackberry.

The heart of their range coincides with their favored hostplant, Spiny Hackberry (Celtis ehrenbergiana). While drought reduces parasitoids that keep butterfly populations in check, summer rains cause Spiny Hackberry bushes to sprout new leaves. Female snouts prefer to lay eggs on the new leaves as young caterpillars can only develop on the tender leaves. With the right combination of drought and wet periods, Snouts can explode in abundance. They have been known to darken skies and cover roadways as they erupt in the millions.

The first known record of an American Snout in the state was during the first Vermont Butterfly Atlas in 2002. We have had nearly 30 records since, including 5 reports this year alone. Although they will use other species of hackberry, including American Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) which is found in the Champlain and Connecticut valleys in Vermont, they have never been documented as reproducing here.

With 27,874 photo-observations submitted by 12,326 observers in August, it was very competitive. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

Congratulations to Larry Clarfeld for winning the July 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! His photo of a Ghost Tiger Beetle (Ellipsoptera lepida) visiting a sheet at his moth light received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month. Tiger beetles have been fairly well-studied in the state, yet this is the first record for this species for Vermont!

Named for their light to white coloration, the Ghost Tiger Beetle is considered 'vulnerable' to extinction globally. It requires bare and deep sandy areas, such as dunes or shorelines, which are patchily distributed across its range. These sandy habitats are often lost to development or degraded, which has resulted in population loss and declines.

Adults emerge in the summer (as early as mid-June) and begin hunting, mating, and laying eggs. They are usually gone by the end of August. The larvae burrow deeper (5-10 feet) than most other tiger beetle species and require deep, loose, and sparsely vegetated sandy areas.

Although we don't yet know if there is a breeding population in Vermont, there are areas of potential habitat near this sighting. Adults are known to come to lights at night up to a mile or two from their habitat and they are known to colonize new, artificial habitats up to 30 miles away. Next year we will visit some potential habitat in the region and see if we can find a small population of these amazing beetles.

With 21,619 photo-observations submitted by 1,745 observers in July, it was very competitive. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

Wild Indigo Duskywing is a species that once was rare in Vermont. Prior to the First Atlas, there are just two records from 1952 from Bennington known. During the first atlas it was still uncommon, it was really just confined to extreme s. Vermont (see first atlas map at https://val.vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/wildindigo.jpg). But it was rapidly expanding its range and abundance as larvae switched to feeding on plantings of crown vetch (Coronilla varia) along roadways. The Second Atlas is showing us just how much it has expanded in the last 20 years (see map https://val.vtecostudies.org/gbif-explorer/?taxonKey=5977220&view=MAP).

It is named for its host plant, the native Yellow Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria), which can be found as far north as extreme s. Vermont (see https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/baptisia/tinctoria/ and https://val.vtecostudies.org/species-profile/?siteName=val&taxonKey=205183064&taxonName=Baptisia%20tinctoria&taxonRank=SPECIES). About a decade ago there were some reports that Wild Indigo Duskywing will also oviposit on non-native (in New England) Blue Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis) in gardens (see here for more on this plant: https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/baptisia/australis/). I have two of these planted in my garden and I see many other gardens have these bushes too. I started examining them closely and lo and behold I have seen them ovipositing on them, larvae feeding, and even have found chrysalis!

YOUR MISSION

Find plants in your garden or neighbors and search for larvae and chrysalis over the next few weeks and report them to the Second Vermont Butterfly Atlas at e-Butterfly.org. Let's see just how widespread this is. For bonus points, find a patch of Crown Vetch and search those plants too. How do you find them? Search the plants carefully looking for 2-3 leaves that seem glued together. I have found both the larva and chrysalis are in tiny nests. Carefully and gently pull them apart, photograph and count all you find and add them to your e-Butterfly checklist. They seal themselves back up rather quickly I have found and you don't have to open it entirely.

Here's a series of images I took just a few days ago in my garden: 1. larva feeding 2. fresh chrysalis (note the dark 'eye" mark) 3. Chrysalis shell after an adult eclosed.

I can't wait to see what we find! Thank you!

This project is part of the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz. Our aim is to contribute a snapshot of the status of Monarch populations across Vermont each year during this critical time in their life cycle. We need your help to gather this data! The Blitz invites people across Vermont, and all of North America, to look for milkweed plants and survey them for monarch eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises and butterflies. This information helps us understand changes in breeding populations and productivity in different regions each year and to identify priority areas for Monarch conservation actions.

Mission Monarch is a community science program to gather data on Monarch and Milkweed distribution and abundance each year during the breeding season. Participants find milkweed, look for monarch caterpillars and share their observations with us on the Mission Monarch website.

Participation is simple! Just complete one or more missions during the Blitz between July 26 through August 4 and add your observations to Mission Monarch. Conducting a mission is easy and fun! From backyards to mountain meadows, all you need is a place where milkweed is growing.

Explore Vermont's astounding moth diversity! By participating in our annual Moth Blitz, you will help the Vermont Moth Atlas develop a better understanding of the moths that call the Green Mountain State home. Join the blitz at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/vermont-moth-blitz-2024.

Over 2,000 moth species have been documented in Vermont with new species being found all the time. Who knows, maybe you will find one! We encourage everyone, from experts to amateur enthusiasts, to find, photograph, and share their moth discoveries with the Vermont Moth Blitz during National Moth Week (July 20-28). Can we beat last years' tally? The Vermont Moth Atlas is a project of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies - Vermont Atlas of Life.

We're already over halfway through the month of July, which means it's time to start casting your votes for the best Vermont Atlas of Life Photo-observation of the Month! You can "fave" any and all observations that you like—located to the right of the photographs and just below the location map is a star symbol. Click on this star and you've fave'd an observation. At the end of each month, we'll see which Photo-observation has the most votes and crown them the monthly winner! Check out this month's awesome observations and click the star for those that shine for you.

Check out who is in the lead and see a list of all of this month's Photo-observations so far!

A mother merganser cruises on calm waters with two ducklings riding on her back. @vtbirder

Congratulations to iNaturalist user @vtbirder for winning the June 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Their photograph of a mother Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) with two ducklings riding on her back received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month.

This past weekend, some of my Californian family members visited me in Vermont for the first time. On rainy Saturday, I assured them that it does not, in fact, rain ALL the time in Vermont and that it is actually quite nice when the sun is out (though I’m not sure I was convincing). We took a drizzly stroll around Church Street in Burlington which culminated in a visit to the waterfront on Lake Champlain. Right in front of us, we saw a female merganser and over a dozen ducklings trailing behind her in the water. The mother duck would stick her head in the water, then shoot forward like a speedboat with her legs driving her forward. All of the little ducklings copied her, becoming a flock of tiny, downy water rockets. I explained to my family that this is how Common Mergansers catch fish for food and that they also dive fully beneath the water to catch fish. The ducklings feed on small fish fry and freshwater invertebrates, and fledge when they’re 60-70 days old. Seeing ducklings certainly brightens up the most drizzly of rainy summer days.

With 30,843 observations submitted by 2,226 observers in May, it was very competitive. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

We're already halfway through the month of June, which means it's time to start casting your votes for the best Vermont Atlas of Life Photo-observation of the Month! You can "fave" any and all observations that you like—located to the right of the photographs and just below the location map is a star symbol. Click on this star and you've fave'd an observation. At the end of each month, we'll see which Photo-observation has the most votes and crown them the monthly winner! Check out this month's awesome observations and click the star for those that shine for you.

Check out who is in the lead and see a list of all of this month's Photo-observations so far!

A barred owl chick peers out of a log cavity. @susanelliott

Congratulations to Susan Elliot (@susanelliott) for winning the May 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Her photograph of a baby Barred Owl nestled inside a log received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month.

Though nocturnal, Barred Owls can sometimes be seen hunting and calling during the day and are more tolerant of human presence than many other owls, which may be why their populations and ranges are growing. These owls breed in late winter, during the cold days of February and March. Life-bonded pairs make their nests in forests inside tree cavities, which they may reuse year after year and furnish with feathers, lichen, and conifer sprigs. Between March and April, a female lays a clutch of 2-3 pure white, textured eggs. For the following month, the female incubates the eggs while the male brings food to her. Owlets hatch with white, downy feathers and begin to grow adult feathers at around 6 weeks old. At that point, the fledglings start exploring around the nest tree, often falling to the ground and having to climb back up using their feet and beaks. The parents continue to help feed the fledglings as they practice hunting throughout the summer months. By mid-autumn, when the young owls are flying and hunting well by themselves, they fly away from the nest and gain independence.

With 29,095 observations submitted by 2,226 observers in May, it was very competitive. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

If you would like scientists and conservation biologists at the Vermont Atlas of Life and beyond use your valuable observations, there's a few iNaturalist settings that are important to check and set.

The first one is geoprivacy. Have you been wondering about that blue circle surrounding your observations on the map? Curious about how iNaturalist protects the privacy of species of conservation concern? Want to ensure that your observations are useful to conservationists and researchers in Vermont? Read our short primer on iNaturalist geoprivacy and learn how you can best set your geoprivacy settings for the Vermont Atlas of Life so that we can use your observations for science and conservation. Visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQUa6ZXvL9YNWeG5Yz5DOW4j2J8fOcDBrD5x3LvrEE1rQlANI3I_wql62eY1NM736Ctbj_ADFb851Uv/pub

The second important setting is your copyright selections. Check out our short primer on setting copyright for observations, photographs, and sound recordings so that we can use your data for science and conservation. Visit https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/84932-updated-choosing-licensing-that-allows-scientists-to-use-your-observations.

Thank you so much for all your observations and helping us conserve biodiversity!