The Vermont Atlas of Life

Discovering and Sharing Biodiversity Knowledge

VAL GBIF Data Explorer

A data platform by GBIF for exploring biodiversity information in Vermont.

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Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist

Get connected with a community of over a million scientists and naturalists who can help you learn more about nature! What’s more, by recording and sharing your observations, you’ll create research quality data for scientists working to better understand our natural heritage.

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Vermont eBird

Vermont eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Join the more than 9,000 bird watchers in Vermont in discovering and reporting bird observations for education, science and conservation. Every sighting matters. Contribute yours.

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eButterfly

Join the thousands of butterfly watchers in recording your observations. From the rarest butterflies to the most common, your sightings contribute to conservation decisions, scientific knowledge, education, and more. Share your observation and make a difference.

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Featured Species

Nine-Spotted Lady Beetle

Wild Bees of Vermont

Common Loon

Latest Discoveries

New Butterfly Species for Vermont Reported to eButterfly

Terri Armata, one of Vermont’s most ardent butterfly watchers, has seen about 100 species in Vermont, nearly every kind ever found here. But even Terri couldn’t have predicted her amazing find during an afternoon butterfly walk—the first record of a Cloudless Sulphur in Vermont. Read more...

Spotted Lanternfly Found in Shipment

On Thursday, August 19th the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets was alerted that a live ‘Spotted Lanternfly’ was captured on a shipment delivered in Rutland. Recognizing the insects as unusual, at the time of delivery the insects were either killed or captured, and one live sample was delivered to officials for identification. At this time, no other evidence of the insects has been discovered.

After 25 years, Two-spotted Lady Beetle is Rediscovered in Vermont

The Two-spotted lady Beetle was feared to be extinct in Vermont, until the Vermont Atlas of Life rallied biologists and community scientists to help find them. Against all odds, several Two-spotted Lady Beetles were found and photographed after a 25 year hiatus.

See all the latest discoveries »

Featured Project

Vermont Lady Beetle Atlas

Since 2019, the atlas has been exploring every nook and cranny of the Green Mountain State to find every species, common to rare. Many lady beetle species remain to be found and others haven't been seen in decades.

Join the search!

News Highlights

Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist Suprasses Half a Million Research-Grade Records

Tom Scavo snapped a photo of a Trout Lily and shared it to the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist and Tom Norton soon agreed with the identification. It was something the both of them have done thousands of times, but this one was special. It was the 500,000th research-grade record for our project, making this the largest biodiversity database likely every collected for the state.

Federally Threatened Orchid Discovered in Vermont

Botanists with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department confirmed that a population of Small Whorled Pogonia—believed to be extinct in Vermont since 1902 and listed as Threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act—has been documented on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land in Chittenden County. The observation was first reported to the Vermont Atlas of Life project on iNaturalist last fall.

iNaturalists Helped the Vermont Atlas of Life Build Biodiversity Big Data in 2021

In 2021 iNaturalists added over 201,000 biodiversity records to our rapidly growing database of life in Vermont. We had 7,759 observers contribute more than 200,000 observations representing more than 4,500 species verified. Read about all the discoveries and more!