Against all expectations, some of the Island’s northern long-eared bats are surviving white-nose syndrome, providing optimism for local conservationists.
Luanne Johnson’s to-do list runs to the wild side: study otter scat, track owls by moonlight. Last week the founder, director and biologist for BiodiversityWorks was in Aquinnah.
The Nature Conservancy has sold its Lambert’s Cove office to BiodiversityWorks, providing a permanent home for the Vineyard-based wildlife monitoring and research nonprofit.
Black racer snakes (Coluber constrictor) have been documented on the Vineyard as far back as the early 1800s, but little is known about the Island population. That could soon change.
Oscar Thompson has spent the summer chasing turtles for his senior thesis at college. Not known for their speed, painted turtles can still be elusive in their natural habitat deep within the Vineyard's ponds.
Carefully lifting up a panel of plywood near Oyster Pond in Edgartown on Monday, Liz Baldwin uncovered a rare sight: a black racer, the Island’s largest and least common snake species. It was her first encounter with the species, which has been in decline here since the 1970s.