AVEO partners with Dr. Jon Atwood of Antioch University New England to operate summer bird banding stations in Ashuelot River Park and the Keene State College Wildlife Management Area. Come check it out at our bird banding demonstration at Ashuelot River Park on Tuesday, July 15 at 8:30 am! To get to the Ashuelot River Park banding station, which is located near the Mill Buildings on Castle Street in Keene, you can either stroll up the walking path from West Street or park at the end of Castle Street in the Keene Housing Authority complex. This is a seriously cool opportunity to get an up close and personal look at Keene’s songbirds, so I hope you’ll join us! Banding only takes place in dry weather, so please check back here or call AVEO at (603) 358-2065 if the weather looks iffy.

Click here for more information on bird banding in Keene, including stories and pictures of the Bird of the Week!

…by which I mean, the nasal PEENT of nighthawks nesting on Keene rooftops and foraging for insects attracted to city lights! Migrating nighthawks have begun to alight in our fair city, and AVEO is again training Nighthawk Patrol volunteers to monitor these state-threatened birds on summer evenings in Keene. Click here for Nighthawk Patrol dates and details.

photo: Mark Suomala

AVEO and Keene State College Continuing Education proudly sponsor the Field Studies Program, which provides a hands-on introduction to natural history and ecological data collection in southwest New Hampshire. Students learn from local experts while exploring the woods, waters, and fields of the Ashuelot Valley, then go on to join AVEO’s growing corps of citizen scientists. We’re excited about our course offerings this winter and spring (some of which start quite SOON!), and we hope you will be too!

Registration is now open for the following courses. Please click on the links for course dates and descriptions!

Beginners’ GPS

Wetlands Ecology

Birding by Ear

Please join us for the Animaterra Women’s Chorus spring concert this Saturday, May 10, 7:30 pm at the Keene Unitarian Universalist Church (69 Washington Street, Keene). This lovely annual event will contribute proceeds to AVEO! Tickets will be available at the door, and cost $10 for Adults, $8 for seniors & students. For more information, click here to visit the Animaterra website.

The numbers are still trickling in, but by all counts we had a stellar year on the salamander beat! Well over 100 Salamander Crossing Guards crossed nearly 4000 amphibians at nine sites throughout Cheshire County and the Ashuelot watershed over the course of two Big Nights: in total, over 1100 spring peepers, 1100 wood frogs, and nearly 1300 spotted salamanders, as well as handfuls of two-lined salamanders, four-toed salamanders, two-lined salamanders, red-backed salamanders, red-spotted newts, green frogs, American toads, and rare Jefferson salamanders, were spared the crush of the tire by our dedicated crew of Salamander Crossing Guards. It was great fun, too. Check out the video footage, still photographs, and stories from Big Night, below!

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I did crossing guard last night in Winchester-it was AWESOME! This is the most fun I have had in a long time! I have never been so wet since I was kid and splashed in puddles! — Yvonne Whipple, Winchester, NH

I had an absolute blast last night out on River Road. I rounded up a posse consisting of two other Antiochians and a FDNY firefigher visiting from Brooklyn. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting to be out saving salamanders. Anyway, thank you so much for letting me a part of all of this………..it is a truly humbling experience. We were all pretty cold and soaked to the bone last night and we went home, put water on for tea, changed into dry clothing and talked about the evening. We will always have fond memories of the migration… –Tamarra Martz, Keene, NH